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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27817987">Crossed Paths</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthWriter/pseuds/DarthWriter'>DarthWriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha Brock Rumlow, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Beta Jack Rollins, Dark Steve Rogers, Drug Use, Explicit Sexual Content, Hatred, Heavy Angst, Humiliation, Hydra Steve Rogers, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Murder, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Torture, Violence, no happy ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:00:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>38,477</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27817987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthWriter/pseuds/DarthWriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Steve Rogers is a jaded 38-year-old former soldier operating on special undercover missions for SHIELD. He fucks alphas on his free time and does drugs out of boredom. That is, until he's mandated for a rescue mission in Afghanistan and meets someone he used to know...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers/Brock Rumlow, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He closes his eyes and rolls his hips one more time. The alpha's cock twitches inside him and sends shivers down his spine. He lets out a throaty moan and splays his hands on the alpha's firm tensed up stomach as he starts gliding up and down the cock in a hard and steady rhythm, impaling himself on his shaft. Rumlow's eyes roll back and he sinks his head into the pillows. He growls, he pants and jerks his hips up, thrusting into Steve, following his rhythm. He grabs his thin waist with two powerful hands, sinking his nails into his skin. Steve gasps and lets him take control for a moment, adjusting his position. He stares down at the movements of his hairy chest, eyes hazy, and slides his hands down along his flanks. "Yeah, baby, fuck me hard." </p><p>Rumlow lets out a repressed whimper and gives a hard deep thrust, sinking his fingers deeper into his skin, hurting him a little. Steve relishes in it. In the pleasure-pain high he feels at the alpha's possessive clutch. It's fast and deep and raw and uncaring. Exactly the way Steve likes it.</p><p>The fast and hard back and forth flexing of his legs starts being painful after a moment so Steve sits down on the alpha's cock, pushing onto it to force it deeper into himself and feel it into his entrails. He lets out another gasp at the sensation and shifts position, reclining a little, hands resting on the alpha's toned hairy thighs. Rumlow is still clutching his hips hard and gives slow, tentative thrusts into him but it's Steve who controls the rhythm. He throws his head back and spread his legs a little, rocking back and forth. He licks his lips and moans unashamedly. He knows it turns them on. It works this time too. Rumlow growls and tenses up under him. He's close and grabs him with strength, seeking his on pleasure into Steve's bowels. Steve likes being vocal about it. He starts panting and compliments the alpha while feeling his head spin in pleasure. "Yeah. That's it. Keep it going. Just like that. Fuck me hard, baby. Come for me. Come inside of me. Knot me hard. Come on. Give me your knot. Give me everything!"</p><p>Rumlow's grip on his hips suddenly loosens and he jerks up, staring at Steve questioningly. He runs one hand gently up his side and it lands on his chest, grazing Steve's nipple in the process, making him shiver with want. The alpha is still rock hard inside of him and Steve is on the edge. Every movement they make give him weird but heavenly sensations. "You want me to knot you?" He asks in a husky wishful voice, eyes already filled with lewd gratitude.</p><p>Steve stares down at him. He likes the power he has on him. "Yeah, baby. Knot me! Knot me hard until I can't walk anymore." </p><p>The alpha loses it and grabs his hips again, this time he rams into him like he wants to see his knot come out of Steve's mouth. Steve lets himself go and closes his eyes in ecstasy, his mind going blank. The alpha is really close and he can feel his cock harden inside of him. "Poppers. Poppers." He yells—because yeah, no alpha can take a knot without a little help first—and shoves the bottle to his nostrils as soon as he catches it from the alpha's hand and throws it on the bed after two whiffs. "Yeah. Give me your cum!" He begs, barely able to support himself on his shaky arms. "Give me everything!"</p><p>The alpha complies and crosses over the edge in a long whimpering groan with one last deep thrust into Steve. He can feel the spurts of warm cum coating his insides and soon the knot grows and expands, taking possession of him entirely. It cuts his breathing short. "Fffuuuuck yeaaaaaaaaah." He blurts as his mind goes blank with the rush of endorphins to his head. It's an amazing high, one that leaves him limp and helpless for a moment. The alpha holds him tight. When he regains consciousness he starts moving up and down slowly, feeling every vein of that cock wrecking his insides. It's fucking bliss. </p><p>Rumlow tenses up, shaken up from the aftermath of his orgasm. He jerks up and clutches Steve's hips hard. "Holy fucking shit!!!!" He exclaims in a choking gasp. Steve ignores him and adjusts his position for better leverage. He keeps impaling himself on the knot and grabs his own cock. He's on the verge of coming. He just gives it a few strokes while keeping a steady rhythm on Rumlow's knot and he's done for. He finally comes all over the alpha's face and lets his own knot gloriously spread in the air. Beautiful, he thinks.</p><p>Rumlow lets out a throaty laugh, still gripping his waist. He looks ecstatic and blown away. His smile is a little dumb. He licks the drops of Steve's cum that landed on his mouth with delight.</p><p>"Wow." He says in rhapsody, propped up on his elbows. "I haven't met many alphas who could take a knot but I sure have never met one who could actually <em>move</em> with a knot inside of them. You're something else, Rogers."</p><p>Steve wishes he would shut up. He feels weak and his body falls limp as he's coming down from his high. "This is the part that I hate, though." He says as he now feels the excruciating pain of being stretched out and split open like that. "So, hurry up and get soft already!"</p><p>Rumlow laughs again. It sounds fond. He sits up and runs his hands gently on Steve's body. He's usually not one for post-sex affection but he finds that he doesn't care much today. He relaxes into it and hums softly while he feels the alpha's cock soften slowly inside of him. Rumlow has the time to kiss his chest before he can free himself from his grasp however. It gives him an unusual shiver.</p><p>As soon as Rumlow is flaccid enough for Steve to get up he disentangles himself from the alpha's embrace and jumps out of bed, wobbling to the bathroom on shaky legs. He's bleeding a little, he notices. </p><p>He takes a short but nonetheless thorough shower, applies some ointments on his ass and puts on an old T-short and shorts that he's been using as PJs for years. When he comes out of the bathroom, toothbrush in mouth, the alpha is skimming through the one thousand and six hundred pages, or so, of the book that was lying on his nightstand. </p><p>"Shtill he'e?" He asks with a frown, toothbrush still in his mouth.</p><p>The alpha ignores the reproachful tone. He's propped up on one elbow and looks up at him, smile on his lips. He throws the book away with an unconvinced pout. "I really wasn't expecting to find that kinda of books on your nightstand," he says. "You're full of surprises."</p><p>Steve takes the toothbrush out of his mouth and answers with a blasé expression, mouth filled with toothpaste foam.<em> "Ulysses</em> is a literary masterpiece, plus the author is Irish."</p><p>"I didn't peg you for a guy who would appreciate great literature." He snorts, sounding a little condescending. "I guess we all have our guilty pleasures..." </p><p>Steve rolls his eyes and goes back to the bathroom to spit the foam. He comes back with a drier toothbrush but keeps scrubbing his teeth energetically. He feels restless. "I actually majored in literature at college. Even started a thesis. Never went through with it though." He pauses and glances at the alpha, brushing his teeth slowly, anticipating his reaction. As expected, the man stares at him with a stunned expression. The news always had that kind of effect on the people he told it to. Which is why he never says it. Tonight he feels smug though.</p><p>"How did you end up here?" </p><p>"Long story." He replies, not particularly willing to get into the details. But the alpha keeps looking at him expectantly, waiting for more.</p><p>"What happened?" He asks daringly.</p><p>"Just fucking <em>life,</em> I guess." Steve deadpans, still scrubbing his gums like he wants to make them bleed. "And a broken heart." </p><p>Rumlow chuckled. <em>"You?</em> A broken heart?" He exclaimed disbelievingly. And he smiles at the way Steve keeps brushing his teeth nervously, ignoring the leap of his heart at the memories. Even now, fifteen years later, he still feels a twinge in his heart when he thinks about him. "Are you trying to make your teeth fall out?" The alpha jokes, pulling him out of his reveries.</p><p>"Oral hygiene is important." </p><p>Rumlow shakes his head with a fond expression that makes Steve want to kick him out bare-assed. He ignores it and goes back inside the bathroom. This time he really rinses his mouth and takes a piss. When he's out again, Rumlow is still naked in his bed, getting comfortable, and starting to annoy him. He reads a magazine he probably found on Steve's nightstand too. Steve wonders why he invited him tonight, he must be getting weak. He usually never sees the same man twice and there he is, fucking Rumlow for the sixth time already. He must be feeling nostalgic. He needs to stop doing that.</p><p>"I'm glad you get around classic literature, as well. I was scared for a second." The alpha teases, making comments on Steve's obvious poor choices in leisure reading. "That you were a true intellectual and I was wrong about you." Steve glances at the cover of <em>People</em> with bored eyes and turns to him, equally bored.  He is restless, even though he's exhausted and sore. He feels a chill when he sees the alpha reading the article for which Steve bought the magazine in the first place. For the same reason he has always bought everything where <em>he</em> was ever mentioned. Even fucking fifteen years later. </p><p>"Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Ind and only businessman openly omega, single again after devastating break up with beta model Indries Mo—bla bla bla... What a pile of shit!" The alpha exclaims in despise and throws the magazine across the bed. </p><p>Steve feels ashamed. The issue must be something like three months old already, now. Tony Stark has been quite discreet lately. Perhaps because of said break-up or the latest scandal about Stark Ind manufactured weapons or because the last time he made the cover of a magazine he was dead drunk and half-naked. Still, Steve keeps carrying it around like a lucky charm when he goes on missions. How lame is that? </p><p>It's a fucking facade though, the playboy persona. Because Tony has grown into a fine man since the last time Steve saw him. Brilliant, independent, proud, fighting tooth and nails for omega rights, among other things. So yeah, he has a long and notorious dating history. No alphas. And why the fuck not, hey? It's not like it prevents him from doing his job right and he's young and rich and hot. It's not because Steve feels a tinge of bitterness every time he hears about another one of his conquests that he shouldn't go for it. Let at least one of them be happy. But he's omega, Steve guesses, and omegas are not supposed to act like this, act <em>free. </em></p><p>Steve gazes at the cover again. Tony is gorgeous on the front picture. Hair slicked back, a freshly trimmed stubble and the beginning of a goatee. His light blue suit is open on his white shirt, as if he was facing the wind. His smile is devastating. Steve is lost in his thoughts for a moment, remembering the innocence of his smile and the tenderness in his eyes. He recognizes the man on the picture but he has become a stranger. He doesn't know anything about him anymore. He doesn't know him anymore. This man has nothing to do with the man Steve had fallen in love with.</p><p>"Fucking omegas!" Rumlow growls, stirring Steve out of his stupor. "They think they can rule the world, now?" He finally gets up and climbs out of Steve's bed, to Steve's relief.</p><p>He didn't take Rumlow for such a pillow talker. Why hasn't he kicked his ass out already? He's definitely growing soft. He ignores the feeling again and rushes to his now blissfully empty bed to collapse on it, snuggling under the covers. He's still restless. Pre-mission stress surely, although he hasn't been stressed out by a mission in years. He fumbles into the drawer of his bedside table and grabs his pack of cigarette.</p><p>"Ever been with an omega, Steve?"</p><p>The question startles him even more than the use of his first name and he freezes for a moment. Then, he turns around and stares questioningly at the alpha, his pack of cigarette hanging in his hand. Rumlow is pulling his undershirt down his muscled chest, looking genuine, and now he's buttoning his black khakis. Steve can't help staring wantonly while he pulls a cigarette out and puts it on his lips. He lights it and coughs at the first exhale. He takes another drag and breathes the smoke out through his nose. The alpha still looks at him with an expectant smile. "Once." He replies at his silent insistence. "My first boyfriend."</p><p>Rumlow laughs. "Oral hygiene is important, indeed." He jokes. "I don't think that's actually allowed, though—"</p><p>"Don't care!" Steve snaps, averting his eyes, looking into space, or maybe avoiding the gentle gaze of the alpha. </p><p>"I thought you had asthma or something." </p><p>"I've healed, miraculously, sort of... I was a late bloomer and when I finally presented, all my health problems faded, asthma included." Steve explains without much enthusiasm. Although that's a lie, he still has asthma, a really mild form, but not on his official medical record. "Too late for my size though..." He adds, slightly bitterly. </p><p>Rumlow chuckles again and there is too much tenderness in his laugh. "So... Boyfriend, huh?" He asks with a tinge of hope in the tone. "I thought you didn't do boyfriends."</p><p>"I don't." Steve answers, crossing his arms behind his head. He stretches one to take another drag and throws it back behind his head, huffing out the smoke in front of him. He feels like coughing again but refrains, he doesn't want Rumlow to comment on it. "He was the first and the last, I guess..."</p><p>"The one who broke your heart, then..." The alpha doesn't even bother asking for confirmation, he just assumes. "How long were you guys, together?"</p><p>Steve takes another drag. He doesn't even know why he bothers, he's not usually the sharing type but there is something about Rumlow that makes him weak tonight. The gentle look in his eyes, perhaps, or the soft tone of his voice. Or perhaps because minutes ago, Steve was impaling himself on his knot and still feels like his insides have been punched through by a horse's cock. Anyway, there's something touching about the alpha that Steve find hard to resist in his current state.</p><p>"Five years." He replies apathetically, blowing out the smoke in front of him. </p><p>He hears the alpha lose countenance.<em> "Five years?" </em>He exclaims, sounding almost horrified. </p><p>Steve smirks as he takes another drag. "Yep. High school sweetheart. I was even ready to propose and bond him for life." He jokes mirthlessly. "How stupid can you be when you're a kid! Good lord, I escaped that."</p><p>The alpha doesn't seem to get over it though. "Five years..." He repeats dreamily. "What the fuck? I never thought I would ever hear something like that from you."</p><p>Steve chuckles and smashes the cigarette butt on Tony's face that was lying around, burning the cover a little, then he throws it into the closest bin and brings his arms behind his head. "Get over it, alright!" </p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>He gives a startled glance at the man. The alpha is ready to go but he lingers somehow. Steve is annoyed again. He ignores the pang he feels in his chest at the question, heartaches are overrated anyway. "Don't know..." Because truthfully, he's never known. Tony had his reasons probably but he never took the time to expose them. "One day you're happy together and the next you're strangers. The flat is empty. He's taken all his stuff..." Steve stops here because he can feel improper feelings resurface. He doesn't want his voice to falter in front of Rumlow. The man is still under his command for fuck's sake. </p><p>"You <em>lived</em> together?"</p><p>Steve glances at him for a few seconds, jadedly, and goes back to his trip down memory lane. "For about a year, yeah..." He remembers suddenly, that day in December when he got back home after work and found the apartment empty. His heart starts racing inappropriately, Steve lets out a shivering sigh before bracing himself. He's still feeling agitated. He needs something stronger to calm his nerves. </p><p>"So you know what it's like then, I guess. Being in rut and sharing it with an omega in heat...?" Steve chuckles mirthlessly. He could count on the alpha to reduce those five years into a sex orgy. He likes that thinking.</p><p>He fixates the ceiling. "Nope. Always been on suppressants. Even before we met." He snorts bitterly. "I should have known, really..." He remembers that first time Steve was in rut and the way he had supplicated 'Please, don't bite me.' They were so young then but Tony repeated it all the time. Everything time they were knotted, in a worried sigh. 'Don't bite me. Don't bite me!' "I guess, he's never been serious about us."</p><p>Rumlow makes a disgusted noise. "This is why we shouldn't let them have a choice. I actually considered bonding one once. You know... have someone here and ready to take care of all your needs all the time, someone who cooks and cleans and makes your bed in the morning. But then I thought, what a hindrance! I'd rather be on my own or with a real alpha. Besides, the mere thought of having to deal with their smell and their mood swings and their slick just makes me wanna puke." He laughs. "Never touched one in my entire life."</p><p>Steve turns bored eyes to him again. <em>Why the fuck is he still here? </em></p><p>He stares at the alpha's sickened pout, probably visualizing an omega getting wet. Most male queers feel disgusted. Steve guesses Rumlow must be a purist. Only goes for alpha males... Like him then, although Steve is not a purist. He has fucked the occasional beta once or twice. Never women though. He thinks differently however... As far as he's concerned, he has always thought it was a blessing, the way Tony got all wet and slick for him, ready to take his knot. When Tony fucked him in this ass he used his own slick as lubricant, although by the time he started doing that, Steve didn't even need any kind of lubricant. He was already so used to it then. Tony fucked him slow and gently and slick dripped along his thighs when he did, the smell of it was dizzying. Steve would lick it up to his ass and lap all over his rim to get as much slick in his mouth as he could and Tony would whimper into the sheets then, asking for more.</p><p>And when Steve fucked Tony, it was mind-blowing. The way the omega let down his barriers and gave himself to him. The way he was so soft and pliant with him, <em>only</em> with him. Steve would kiss his shoulder blades then, because Tony was a full head taller than him already, and afterwards he would move his knot inside him, slowly, softly, tenderly. He would keep fucking him through the aftermath of his orgasm and Tony would protest, say it tickled him but he gasped and pinched his lips not to moan and he would grind his hips backward, sinking deeper on the knot. Steve held him tight against him, hand splayed on his lower belly, as if to feel his own knot inside the omega's wombs. It was glorious.</p><p>Because it was Tony.</p><p>And he loved Tony with all his heart and soul.</p><p>He gave it all up and now he has nothing left. </p><p>He sits up and opens the drawer of his nightstand again, takes a little plastic bag with white powder in it and makes himself a line. He bends over and snorts it. </p><p>"You sure it's the time to snort cocain? We do need to get up in three hours..."</p><p>Steve pinches his nose and snorts twice before collapsing on the bed again, spread on it like a starfish. He stares at the ceiling hazily. "It's heroin. Helps me sleep."</p><p>Rumlow snorts. "Sure."</p><p>"Don't worry... I'll be on the tarmac at five, tomorrow. Never been late even once in my entire life." He says hoarsely, feeling the exhaustion take him over.</p><p>"Right, so..."</p><p>"Why are you still here? Get the fuck out already!" </p><p>The alpha laughs throatily. "Nice one Rogers! You're the one who called me in, remember? I could have done with a whole night of sleep, you know?"</p><p>"And now I'm throwing you out!" He snaps and then he mutters, "I'm already regretting this..." almost to himself.  "Be discreet, though. It'd be bad if someone were to see you get out of here past one pm."</p><p>The alpha laughs again. "Oh you really think they don't already know about us?"</p><p>Steve tilts his head forward and opens an eye in his direction, questioningly. </p><p>"You don't think it's weird they left half the team on the ground and only called in a bunch of betas led by two fairies?"</p><p>"Why should I?"</p><p>"Haven't read the mission order, have you?"</p><p>"Nope." He hasn't read mission orders previous from the mission for years. He doesn't need to. He's at his best when he's improvising. He's been in the game for too long, now. Nothing surprises him anymore.</p><p>The alpha's smile is amused, although he should probably be worried that the team leader doesn't give a shit about the mission but he doesn't make any comment about it. "Right, I'll get going."</p><p>"Fucking finally!" Steve huffs out.</p><p>Rumlow's smile doesn't fade even if it seems a little strained. Steve drops his head on the pillows and closes his eyes. He hears the door and starts dozing off.</p><p>"Say..." The alpha says while he's leaning on the open door. "If you were with an omega before, does that mean you're okay with being on top?"</p><p>Steve startles and feels a jolt of electricity throughout his body. He props up on his elbows and stares into the alpha's sheepish eyes. "I'm fine with both." He says after a moment of studying silence. "I usually bottom because that's what guys expect from me, being so short and thin and all..."</p><p>Rumlow smiles softly, eyes glimmering wantonly. "I like it too, you know? If you... If you'd want that..." He says hesitantly, "maybe... Maybe we could grab dinner some times—"</p><p>Steve is too fucking tired for this now. Why the hell is Rumlow loitering around here, at such ungodly hours, spewing nonsense? He drops his head again with an exasperated sigh and brings his two hands on his face, pressing onto his exhausted eyes.</p><p>He expected the alpha to get a fucking clue but he's pretty sure the guy is still waiting for his answer and that the door is still open. He can hear his hitching breathing.</p><p>
  <em>Fine!</em>
</p><p>"Yes, for knotting you. No for dinner. Now, get the fuck out of my room! And close that fucking door!"</p><p>Rumlow lets out a surprised giggle, although he sounds a little hurt by the blunt rejection. "I never said anything about getting knotted." He says in a light tone.  "But we could discuss it though, over coffee at least?"</p><p>Steve chuckles at that and it's genuine. It's cute, he thinks. Rumlow's cute and hot. He's an asshole but he's a good lay, so...</p><p>"Fine. Now let me sleep..." He says with a fond smile, eyes already closed and mind blurry.</p><p>What the fuck is wrong with him? </p><p>Is he going through his mid-life crisis already?</p><p>"'Kay, I'll see you tomorrow then... Five O'Clock. On the tarmac."</p><p>Steve thinks he mumbles something like "sure" in response but it's all very fuzzy.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well, thank you people for your kudos and bookmarks!!! :D :D :D It warms my heart... I really didn't think anyone would be interested in this story at all. If you enjoy it, don't hesitate to tell me in the comments!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day. Ten to five. Steve is the first one on the tarmac. As usual. He takes his pack of cigarette from a back pocket and lights one out of boredom. The rest of the team arrives as soon as he blows out the first puff, one after the other. At five o'clock the team is complete. Five agents in total. Three men. Two women. All betas, like Rumlow said. Steve nods at them silently. He's stern and distant and no-one dares open their mouth. He doesn't make any effort to lighten the mood. Frankly he's too tired for that and he knows he wouldn't have made the effort even if he wasn't. He has stopped caring about that kind of things a long time ago.</p><p>Rumlow is the last one to make an appearance, in a hurry. He looks tired and rushed, but freshened somehow. His eyes twinkle when they meet Steve's, he gives him a knowing smile. Steve barely answers the smile. He's exhausted. He can even <em>feel</em> the bags under his eyes but he's been in the game for too long now to be able to oversleep. His body still hurts, though. He's limping a little but makes a point to forget about the pain.</p><p>Getting knotted before a mission was a really stupid idea. </p><p>Rumlow is more social than he is. After all, the Strike Team is <em>his</em> team. He chitchats with them for a few minutes, catching up on the latest news, until Steve gives them the go-ahead and they all hop in the Quinjet, silently.</p><p>Steve waits for his team to get in and settle down before climbing the stairs to the jet. He throws his cigarette butt on the asphalt, smashes it with his foot and grabs the railing. Once inside he takes a few checking glances here and there, no smile on his face, and sits away from the team, at the back. </p><p>He reclines the seat and slumps on it, takes out his book and his sun glasses. He puts the book next to him and the glasses on his nose and crosses his arms on his chest. He dozes off slowly.</p><p>Rumlow joins him not long after that.</p><p>"You alright, Rogers?"</p><p>"It's Captain, here." Steve snaps but keeps his eyes closed.</p><p>The alpha snort. "I told you that was a bad idea from the start. I almost missed the plane this morning. This is the last time I join you in your room the night before a mission, I'm telling you."</p><p>Steve raises his head in his direction and looks at him half-lidded. How dare he assume Steve would call for him again, anyway? "You done?"  Rumlow shakes his head, Steve thinks, because he can't really see much. "We still have a good thirteen hour flight, we'll be fine." Steve keeps on with a lazy smile.</p><p>The alpha seems to calm down a little, at least that's what his scent seems to suggest right now. "Have you had the time to read through the mission order?"</p><p>Steve is already reclining on the headrest and closes his eyes again. The sun is rising and the warm morning light is hurting his exhausted eyes, even through the sunglasses. "No. Brief me through it. Only the basics."</p><p>The alpha pushes the book away and sits down on the seat next to him. Steve hears him turn the pages of some file. "So," he starts, voice serious and focused, "it's a hostage situation."</p><p>"Hostage? In <em>Afghanistan?</em> Why the hell didn't we hear about it on the news?"</p><p>"Highly classified." </p><p>Steve brings a hand to his face and wipes his eyes underneath the sunglasses. "Shit!" He just says. "How many hostages?"</p><p>"Just one."</p><p>"They're mandating an entire special unit for <em>one</em> fucking hostage?"</p><p>"One that's valuable, at least." Rumlow says cynically. "There might be others but we're only supposed to bring back this one omega."</p><p>Steve lets out a surprised chuckle. He wonders why they deemed important to insist on that kind of detail. Perhaps it was just a question of logistics. Omegas are more difficult to deal with than the ordinary beta, simply because of their specific biological traits. Especially when they might have been put into situations that could engender inconveniences. "So, that's what you meant last night..." He remarks, snorting mirthlessly. "What do we know about them?"</p><p>"Not much."</p><p>"Female or male?"</p><p>"Not specified."</p><p>"We don't even know <em>who</em> they are?" Steve exclaimed exasperatedly. </p><p>"Nope. Just that we need to bring them back, possibly alive."</p><p>"What did Fury say?" </p><p>"To bring them back alive at all costs..."</p><p>Steve hums pensively while rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "And what's the unofficial mission?</p><p>"Bring them back at all cost, dead or alive. Knows too much."</p><p>Steve hums again and thinks about what that could possibly mean. This mission sounds fucking fishy and the intel is dubious.</p><p>Rumlow sighs. "What kind of stuff would an omega know that necessitates that level of caution around it, I wonder..."</p><p>Steve chuckles. "You'd be surprised..." His thoughts wander towards Tony for a short moment, Tony would know a fucking tons of valuable things he guesses but surely someone with a narrow mind like Rumlow would never consider it and then he forces his mind back on track. "Don't think the leaders of the world don't speak on the pillows... I'm pretty sure a lot of omegas know much more than we could ever imagine."</p><p>"Yeah... Makes sense, I guess." Rumlow admits. "Did you know that more than seventy percent of omega hookers die before the age of thirty, most of the time in really suspicious circumstances. It's sixty-five percent more than beta hookers. That's fucked up, ain't it?"</p><p>Steve turns horrified eyes at him. "Where did you learn that?"</p><p>Rumlow shrugs uninterestedly. "Don't know, probably one of SHIELD's crash courses..." </p><p>Steve tries to refocus on the mission but his head is spinning a little. Lack of sleep, obviously. The alpha's hand surreptitiously lands on his knee and starts roaming up and down his leg. Steve opens his eyes and parts his lips in an uncontrolled gasp at the bold gesture. He hates that Rumlow thinks he can take that kind of liberties with his body. Who the fuck does he think he is? The gesture is soft and affectionate and Steve also likes that Rumlow is taking that kind of liberties with his body, he realizes. He likes that very much even and he lets him run his hand higher, feeling the warmth of it spreading like fire throughout his body. </p><p>"So what's the plan?" He croaks out, spreading his legs wider, hoping the alpha's hand would see it as an invitation to slide down along the inside of his thigh. Rumlow keeps the gesture tender and affectionate however.</p><p>"I thought <em>you</em> were the man with the plan..." The alpha says teasingly, smile soft on his face.</p><p>"You know what I mean," Steve replies annoyedly. "Where do we start from?"</p><p>"Well, we should be at the base in... " Rumlow looks at his watch. "Twelve hours and twenty-four minutes." He says with nonchalance.</p><p>"Hum..." Steve sighs. "Very precise." He teases, smile spreading on his lips unwillingly. "Base?"</p><p>"Military. They will provide us with a vehicle and the coordinates of the alleged location. We shall leave at nightfall and keep it stealthy. I think they have another on-going operation in parallel but our sole mission is the hostage."</p><p>"How sure are we about the location?"</p><p>"I'd say thirty-five percent..." </p><p>"Right." Steve says pensively. He has a bad feeling about the whole thing. Dubious intel. Too many uncontrolled parameters. It's sketchy. "I don't like that we don't know anything about the hostage. There's something they're not telling us. If Fury wants them alive at all costs it must be because he wants to take them in for interrogation. The omega must have some really valuable information... "What did Pierce say?"</p><p>Rumlow hums at his loud stream of thoughts. "The omega can die. They already have someone on the inside. They don't need the info."</p><p>Steve is lost in his thoughts for a moment. He still has a bad feeling about this but he'll do with it. It won't be the first time, neither the second. "Right..."</p><p>"I say we just kill the bitch. Too many complications."</p><p>"No!" Steve snaps, tone blunt and dry. "If the official mission says the omega lives then the omega lives. End of. I don't want to raise any suspicions. We kill the bitch as a last resort."</p><p>"Alright." Rumlow agrees reluctantly, then he gives him a teasing smile. "I've always liked your penchant for doing the right thing." </p><p>Steve rolls his eyes. "I'm not doing the right thing. I'm just doing my job, that's all."</p><p>"The doctrine says..." The alpha starts and this is the last thing that Steve wants to hear right now. He cuts him short.</p><p>"I don't fucking care about Hydra's ideology. I'm just here for the money."</p><p>Rumlow chuckles. "Money? What do you need money for? You don't even have a decent place to live in."</p><p>Steve gives him the middle finger, not even trying to look at him. "Fuck off! Get the fuck back to your seat and let me sleep. I still have twelve hours and twenty-four minutes to catch up on missed sleeping time and have enough restorative rest not to limp when we land."</p><p>Rumlow chuckles proudly and gets up, regretfully. "Twelve hours and six minutes exactly."</p><p>"Get lost!" Steve growls, eyes already closed.</p><p>He wakes up about six hours later. He emerges slowly. His head is still spinning and hurts like a hammer is banging on his skull. He drinks water and eats something, despite the nauseous state he's been in till this morning.</p><p>Then he gets up and takes a glance around. Everyone is more or less dozing off too or quietly doing their own thing. He walks up to the other side and checks on them silently, making sure everything's alright and everyone stays focused. Rumlow is asleep and his features are soft. Steve feels something funny at the sight of him. His sleeping face's cute, he thinks, and rejects the inconvenient thought immediately, he really doesn't need that kind of hindrance right now, and goes back to his seat to read a little. He does off some more and when he wakes up there's only two hours left before they arrive. The cockpit is livelier somehow, everyone dealing with pre-mission stress differently. </p><p>He rubs his eyes, goes freshen himself up in the bathroom and briefs his team before landing and then his eyes catch a hold of Rumlow's fond smile and a spark of electricity runs throughout his spine. </p><p>"Commander," he growls, voice sounding a little hoarse at the edges. "I need your insight over some details. We shall discuss that in private. Follow me, please."</p><p>"Yes, captain."</p><p>"Good."</p><p>He walks over to the front of the plane where there's a cabin dedicated for that purpose in determined strides. Rumlow follows him, a few step behind. He gets into the cabin hesitantly. Steve is already preparing himself a line. </p><p>"Captain? I thought we went through everything this morning. Is there something else you want—"</p><p>Steve lets out a snarky laugh and interrupts the alpha who shuts his mouth confusedly. "When did I ever need your insight for anything mission-related?" Steve is that sort of leader. He decides, end of. His subalterns may be entitled to have an opinion and he will allow them to share it sometimes but at the end of day, it's <em>his</em> call. Rumlow knows it. It's not their first ride.</p><p>Steve bends over the sill that surrounds the inside wall of the cabin on which he was leaning to prepare his line and unbuckles his khakis. There isn't much space but it will do fine he thinks. </p><p>He hears the alpha swallow behind him with difficulty. Then his breathing hitches and he starts panting, sounding helpless.</p><p>"We don't have all fucking day, <em>commander,</em> what are you waiting for?" Steve snarls and hurls a pack of lube at him. Then he snorts his line.</p><p>The alpha is all flustered, it seems. "You sure?" He asks hesitantly. Steve looks back at him and bends over a little lower, stretching his back and arching up to give him a better access. "Get your knot in my ass, now!" </p><p>Rumlow stumbles and fumbles with the pack of lube with shaky fingers. He finally manages to open it under Steve's eager stare. He shouldn't push that much pressure on him, he thinks. That kind of behavior might plummet an alpha's confidence but he trusts Rumlow to be a real one and give it to him hard in the end. </p><p>Steve bites his lower lip and closes his eyes in bliss when he finally feels cold and slick fingers on his rim. Rumlow makes a quick job lubing him up and aligns himself behind Steve's hips. He holds him tight, taking possession of him, feeling confident again, and Steve hears him unbuttoning his pants, at last. Rumlow starts rubbing his already hard cock between his cheeks, coating himself with the remaining lube, and slips the head inside, pushing against Steve's rim softly. Steve is already open and ready from last night, still a little sore too but he's confident the unpleasant feeling will soon disappear as he gets really aroused and starts feeling it.</p><p>The alpha holds his hips tight but doesn't push any further and just lets the tip of his cock breach him teasingly, somehow still hesitant about it. Steve shivers with the sensation and there's something deeper in that shiver as well, Steve had forgotten what was sex like with someone who cares. It's a little unsettling. He pushes back on the cock, gritting his teeth and whining a little. He's only half-hard for now and it still hurts but he doesn't have the time to care about that. The alpha startles behind him but gets the fucking clue and starts pounding into him, hard. </p><p>Steve gasps and pants and grabs his dick to jerk himself hard. It hurts at first but then his mind starts getting numb and he can relish in the pleasure-pain of being split open by an alpha cock. Rumlow is ruthless and rams into him like jackhammer, perhaps because Steve keeps begging him for more, and harder and faster while he tries more or less to hold himself on the sill and represses his moans. </p><p>The alpha grunts behind him and growls and after a few moments he starts slowing down. Steve is fully hard now and half-way through bliss. His thoughts aren't coherent anymore. The calm breather is a relieving break that Steve uses as an opportunity to make himself another line while the alpha keeps fucking into him in a slow and steady rhythm. </p><p>"Fuck, Rogers!" Rumlow blurts out, voice pervaded with lust. "You're <em>hardcore.</em> I thought heroin made you sleep. We're landing in an hour. You can't be high now." </p><p>"That's cocain." Steve mumbles indifferently. "Helps me focus." The alpha chuckles behind him but keeps thrusting slowly into him. Steve snorts his second line. "You want some?"</p><p>The alpha slows down and wraps his arms around Steve's body in a very<em>... intimate </em>way. "No." He husks out. "Never during a mission." And then he pulls Steve up into his embrace and presses his whole body against his back, holding him tight and <em>lovingly</em> against him, trying to get every inch of his body to touch him. Steve's mind goes blank and he shivers all over, warmth pooling at the pit of his stomach. It's not sexual arousal. It's something else, much more overwhelming. He doesn't remember when he's been held like that but it's nice.</p><p>Rumlow's strong arms enlace around him in soft caresses and he hums in the crook of his neck. "One day you're gonna fuck up, Captain." He whispers into his ear, sending sparks of electricity down his spine. Steve hums and moans in response. "You're gonna fuck up so bad." The alpha repeats and then he bites him. He fucking <em>bites</em> him, making Steve's mind go blank, his eyes roll at the back of his head and his vision blurry. </p><p>The alpha curls his hand around Steve's neck while licking the possessive marks of his bites and presses gently, not to hurt, not to cut his breathing short, just to claim Steve as his again and he tugs Steve's face back to face him before bringing sweaty lips against Steve's. The gesture is sweet and unexpected and Steve somehow lets it happen, unsettled by the gentleness of the alpha. </p><p>They kiss.</p><p>Steve hasn't kissed one of his hook-ups is <em>years. </em>He had forgotten the feeling. Part of him wants to protest, bite Rumlow's too bold and daring tongue off, but he lets himself go and melts into it because while the alpha kisses him, he keeps fucking into him slowly, grazing his soft spot each time and bringing him to the edge. There's no pain left, only blissful pleasure Steve can feel spreading in his entire body, warming all his dark places. His rock-hard cock starts leaking and he hasn't even touched himself. He moans into the alpha's mouth, he thinks, and brings his hand to the back of the man's neck to keep him where he is, pulling him closer to him. </p><p>Rumlow pulls out and brusquely turns him over, with two powerful hands on his face he keeps demanding kisses that Steve is too high and startled to refuse him. Then his hands grab Steve's hips and slide down under his butt, he throws him onto the small table, making a racket that certainly none of the passengers of that plane missed, and brutally pulls one of his legs out of his khakis before ramming into him again, one of Steve's legs on his shoulder. This time it's hard and fast and he keeps sinking his fingers into Steve's hips and catches Steve's lips into a long, never-ending kiss. Steve lets himself be manhandled and curls his arms around the alpha's neck to hold himself.</p><p>He's sliding down a dark and dangerous slope and he knows that but he's feeling too fucking good right now to care. He doesn't repress his sharp pants and loud moans anymore. He just grabs his own dick, still holding himself on the alpha's neck with one hand, and starts jerking himself off. He reaches orgasm in a few seconds. His mind goes blank for a split second and he feels in bliss, his ass opening up for the alpha, but he quickly regains composure and splays a hand on the alpha's stomach, pushing him off brutally. "Get the fuck out of me. I don't want to be knotted."</p><p>The alpha startles but complies and steps back. He was already close and only gives a couple of stroke before falling over the edge and spurting white streaks of warm cum on Steve's stomach, which was still covered with his shirt and undershirt, by the way. </p><p>The alpha smirks in bliss and licks his lips while trying to be possessive again and grabbing his hips in post-sex daze. He pants hard, trying to catch his breath and leans into Steve. Steve indulges him for a moment, letting him come down from the aftermath of his orgasm but doesn't let him kiss his neck.</p><p>"Alright, puppy. Don't get too handsy with me, now." </p><p>Rumlow flinches and straightens up, looking into Steve's eyes, questioning. Steve looks back at him sternly, putting back some distance between them. He climbs down the table and pulls up his pants under the unsettled stare of the alpha. He makes a quick job of getting ready and Rumlow waits until that moment to bring a gentle hand to his face. Steve grabs his wrist before his fingers can reach his face and glares at him with a growl. </p><p>The alpha gets the clue and steps away, hands on his hips. He snorts and looks down, expression somehow mirthless. Steve can see him swallow silently.</p><p>"Get the fuck out of here and get ready, commander. We're gonna land, soon."</p><p>The alpha snorts again. "Aye, aye, Captain. At your command."</p><p>Steve turns away and fetches some rag to try to rub the cum off his uniform. Rumlow calls out to him again. "Hey, Rogers." Steve turns his head back and stares at him. "If you really think that no-one knows what's just happened here, you're barking up the wrong tree, man." The alpha smirks and walks away, leaving a trail of bitterness behind him.</p><p>Steve pouts and shrugs. He doesn't give a shit about it, he realizes. Must be the coke...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's a little earlier than five am when they finally land in Afghanistan. It's a little more than seven pm in their home country. Fucking jet lag.</p><p>They are escorted by six marines. Three vehicles are waiting for them and, oh surprise, another five hours or so long drive on a dented and stony path that winds through the arid mountains of the southern Afghan landscape. On the upside, the scenery is absolutely splendid and the sun rising slowly behind the mountain, giving the sky a whole palette of warm colors, excites Steve's artistic eye. </p><p>After being blown away by the view surrounding them during the first hour of rocky driving, Steve dozes off for the rest of the journey, catching up on the missed hours of sleep. </p><p>It's about ten thirty am, local time, when they finally arrive at the base. Steve jumps out of the HUMVEE and can't wait to stretch his legs and have a smoke. He feels like he's been in a shaker for the past five hours, although it's not his first time in Afghanistan. He served here before. He knows the land. He knows the people there. He knows the traps...</p><p>They're given refreshments and sent to their tents for their short stay here before General Gabriel himself welcomes them officially on the base. They're given an hour long briefing on the upcoming mission, plus all the intel the military have on the location and some advice on the specificities of the region. Steve half-listens to them. He's already bored and he hates the arrogance of the general.</p><p>At the end of the briefing, his men are sent to rest while he's been nicely asked to join the general into his private quarters for a little chat.</p><p>The man puts a paternal hand on his shoulder and smiles hypocritically as he leads them to his quarters. "I'm glad to see one of us is leading this operation. I've heard of your deeds, Captain. I'm impressed."</p><p>Steve nods silently, still processing the information they've just been given, preparing himself.  </p><p>"Don't like those civilians meddling into our affairs but we don't have much of a choice. Orders come from above. Have no say in it." Steve wonders if he thinks Steve is going to relate just because they're both military. He flickers bored eyes to him and doesn't smile.</p><p>"The Strike Team is a special undercover unit, Sir, highly-trained." He snaps. "Those are the best agents on the field, here, specialized in strategic combat and stealthy operations. I trust everyone of them with my life. <em>We</em> are the best team for this job. Let us do it properly and you won't even notice we've ever been here." </p><p>The general hums in response, a little startled by Steve's aggressive reaction to his attempt to bond over their shared military past. "Still," The general continues while inviting Steve inside, "we lost ten good soldiers when the omega was abducted." Steve squints at that.  </p><p>Inside the—quite spacious and comfortable for a base of this size in this area—room, there is a man standing in a dark blue uniform. He looks stern, with a glimpse of hope and concern in his eyes. There is something soft and touching in those eyes, Steve thinks.</p><p>General Gabriel makes the introductions. "This is Colonel James Rhodes, from the Air Force. Colonel? This is Captain Steve Rogers who will lead the operation.</p><p>The man, a beta, surprisingly—it is quite rare to see betas in such leading positions that it needs to be mentioned—salutes him. "Captain," he says with some sort of dignity in his demeanor, "Very nice to meet you."</p><p>Steve salutes as well and nods at the greeting. "Colonel." He replies severely. "I return the feeling." He studies him a moment, wondering why the name seems to ring a bell. He doesn't remember seeing him before though. The man doesn't seem to be a guy one would forget about.</p><p>"Good," General Gabriel interrupts. "Now that the introductions are made, let's get down to it. Captain, I hope I can count on your discretion for all of this. After the hostage is rescued, no-one must know that he was ever here." Steve twigs. "Like I said, we have lost men. Good soldiers. Some of them are still alive and we are leading our own rescuing op. This is a crucial operation. So I expect you to follow orders and not take too much liberty. To sum up, don't get in our way."</p><p>Steve nods. </p><p>They give him some extra confidential intel and then the general leaves him alone with the colonel to fetch them some drinks. Steve mildly appreciates the gesture.</p><p>"So, what's an Air Force colonel doing here?" Steve asks bluntly while they're both left alone. He's never been good with social niceties and is very well known to get straight to the point. Military hierarchy be damned!</p><p>The colonel doesn't hold it against him. He smiles softly at Steve's impetuousness. "I'm here as a consultant..." he starts and then he studies Steve a moment, trying to decide if he can be trusted or not. "And professional acquaintance of the hostage."</p><p>Steve startles and frowns at the man. He doesn't like this at all and they won't even tell him who that fucking omega is. Although now, he knows it's male.</p><p>"I heard really good things about you, Captain." The colonel explains in a nice and soft voice. "I've seen through your resume. It's quite impressive. You're certainly the best man for this job, I'm sure."</p><p>Steve nods, out of politeness. </p><p>The colonel steps closer and rudely invites himself in Steve's personal space. Some people think it's okay to do that, because of his size. He growls and the colonel startles, probably unsettled by his suddenly aggressive scent. He stands on his grounds however and Steve relaxes when he realizes his demeanor is not threatening. The man puts gentle, pleading hands on his shoulders.</p><p>"Please Captain," he says with a faltering voice. "Bring him home, safe and sound. I'm counting on you." He sounds a lot more than a professional acquaintance in fact and his last words are almost whispered, out of worry.</p><p>The request is so touching, somehow, that Steve feels obliged for a moment. Old feelings resurface, feelings of loyalty. From when he first enrolled, besides Bucky. He was still a little naive then. He was still a little hopeful. Loyalty, honor, respect, integrity... They were values that mattered to him then. Therefore, it is weirdly genuine when he answers. "I will, Sir. On my life." At this precise moment, he means it.</p><p>When Steve is finally released from the General's grasp it is already time for lunch. They're given some food and eat away from the other soldiers, unofficially talking about what's to come. The conversation remains inhibited and mostly professional. Everyone is either tired or stressed out, or both. </p><p>After lunch, everyone is dispatched in their tents. Rumlow takes him to theirs, very proud to tell him they share one. "I was the one in charge of allocating the rooms in your absence."</p><p>Steve rolls his eyes and gives him an uninterested glance. The alpha's smile dies down. His headache comes back. "That's not really what I'd call a room but... whatever." It still has enough privacy to do whatever Rumlow had in mind when he bragged about it.</p><p>Once inside the first thing Steve does is take off his shoes. He couldn't wait for it. He felt like he had been in those shoes for an entire week non-stop. Then he buttons down his fatigues and slumps on a collapsible chair. He stretches his arms and lets out a yawn. He's exhausted and yet it feels like the only thing he's been doing since they left Washington is sleeping. He probably needs some action. He takes his pack of cigarette and lights one, although it's not allowed—Rumlow doesn't care—and slumps on the uncomfortable chair, head reclining as he stares hazily at the ceiling.</p><p>He lets out a long weary sigh and suddenly remembers his ass still hurts. "Aaaargh.... Fuck. My. Life..." He says in a desperate wheeze. His head is still pounding so he straightens up a little and brings a hand to his face, elbow propped on the adjacent table. He'd kill for a real shower right now.</p><p>"So..." Rumlow starts, catching up his attention. "We have a few hours before dusk," Steve looks up at him, the man is leaning against a small cupboard, legs crossed at his feet and arms crossed on his chest. He's not smiling for once. "I thought we might talk."</p><p>Steve wipes his hand on his face and rakes his sticky hair. He breathes out annoyedly. His head is spinning again. "About what?"</p><p>"We've been doing this quite a lot lately..."</p><p>Aaaand <em>fuck...</em></p><p>Steve is still hiding his face in his hand and rubbing his tired eyes. His cigarette hanging from his other hand, between his spread legs. "You really sure this is a conversation we should have right now?" He answers uninterestedly, not even looking at him. "We're in the middle of a mission."</p><p>The alpha lets out a bitter chuckle. "You're the one telling me what's appropriate to do or not during a mission?" He exclaims. "We just <em>fucked</em> in a plane, with the entire team right outside the door. It's a little too late for that, man..."</p><p>Steve hums in response, takes a drag and blows the smoke in his direction. His eyes are still closed and he tries to forget about his headache by endlessly rubbing his temples.</p><p>"I mean... This is good, right?"</p><p>"Is this about dinner again?"</p><p>"Yeah, I mean we could... We could try to fuck when we're <em>not</em> at work. See where this is going..."</p><p>Steve laughs. He can't help it. It sounds nasty though. "This isn't going anywhere, Rumlow. This—<em>thing</em>—that you're talking about, this is not for people like us."</p><p>"And why the fuck not? I mean, this is the first time that I meet someone with whom things could <em>work." </em>The alpha swallows and sighs. "I mean there's like, what—five percent of the population that's alpha? Supposedly half of them are female... So that leaves about two percent of male alphas and how many of us are queer, man? Huh? How many?"</p><p>Steve snorts. "Cute." He says condescendingly. "You're still a puppy, though. I've <em>tried</em> dating and believe me... the whole shit is a fucking <em>scam.</em> Don't fall into that trap, Rumlow!"</p><p>"Don't fucking look down on me, Rogers. We're like what? Four years apart? Five years? Don't play the experienced card with me, man. I've been in the game long enough and you don't know fucking shit about it either."</p><p>Steve sighs again. His head is still pounding and his eyes hurt. He looks at his watch. They still have hours before they need to get ready. He needs something stronger. He hesitates. He'd like to sleep a little before they leave. He takes a last drag and pinches his cigarette butt away. It falls on the floor and Rumlow smashes it with his feet before picking it up and throwing it into an actual bin.</p><p>Steve fetches some water in a bowl and a cloth and tries to wash up with the little comfort they have. Then, he fetches his stash. He has some time on his hands so he takes his shooting kit and goes back on that uncomfortable chair to slump on it.</p><p>The alpha watches him melt the powder into a spoon and suck it up into a syringe with a mix of exasperation and aloofness. Steve doesn't care. He sinks the needle into his skin and feels bliss for a split second. The alpha snorts and shakes his head.</p><p>"You want some?" Steve asks.</p><p>The alpha shakes his head again. "I'm not touching that shit on my life, man. This is fucked up."</p><p>Steve laughs again. It's almost hysterical but he can't stop. He takes off the elastic band he used to take his shot and throws it away on the adjacent table, then he rubs mechanically the inside of his elbow with two fingers. He's already lost in his thoughts. </p><p>"What happened to you, Rogers?" The alpha asks, sounding mildly concerned. "It's like you... You've given up. Like you—you <em>gave up</em> on life, on—on <em>hope.</em> Is there anything that matters to you?"</p><p>Steve keeps laughing and it's frantically hysterical now. He doesn't even <em>want</em> to laugh. There's absolutely nothing funny about this. Or maybe there is...? Steve's too fucked up to be sure. He sits up and drops his head in his hands, trying to calm his fits of laughter. He whines and then looks up at the alpha.</p><p>"What about you, Brock?" He asks. "Do you have hope?"</p><p>The alpha's eyes glimmer. He hesitates. "Yeah." He finally says with a broken voice.  His hands are on his hips and he steps closer, stance determined. "Yeah, I do."</p><p>Steve chuckles but manages to repress another hysterical fit of laughter. "And what are you hoping for? Huh? What kind of hope did you have when Hydra recruited you? And don't fucking tell me you believe in their bullshit..."</p><p>Rumlow cringes but doesn't answer. He just stares down at him with a somehow forlorn expression.</p><p>"Forget about this whole shit, man. It's not worth it." Steve says as he forces himself to stand and walks over the twin cots a few feet away. He needs to get some rest before tonight. His mind is already fuzzy and relaxed. It feels good.</p><p>Rumlow leaves him to it and walks away without a word. </p><p>Steve lies down on one of the cots and sighs. He can't sleep and already regrets not taking the alpha's offer. He could have done with a good fuck right now, instead he lets his mind wander, remembering the magnificent scenery he witnessed this morning. The pictures are fresh and vivid in his head and being high sort of makes everything more real when he closes his eyes. It's like he's almost there, flying over the mountains, reaching the sky. He stretches his arms and can almost touch those beautiful colors. He can reach the red rising sun. It puts a smile on his face somehow and Steve keeps flying in fantasy land for a moment before his mind wanders away again. He can feel the alpha's possessive hands on him again and his cock twitches. He remembers their kiss and how nice it was and how he had forgotten all of this. He opens his eyes. He still can't sleep but he feels like drawing.</p><p>He gets up with difficulty, as if, after resting for a while, his body was even sorer than before, and fetches a pencil and the sketchbook that he always brings with him everywhere he goes, even if he never touches it. He turns the pages. Some of those sketches are several years old and they don't even cover half of the book's pages. He skims through them for a short moment, remembering those few happy moments he had in his life that led him to open that fucking sketchbook, and gets down to it eventually. He sketches what he remembers of the landscape at first and wishes he had watercolor paint or pencils. </p><p>And he then he tries to sketch the alpha, to draw the contour of his smile, the way his green eyes twinkle mischievously when he looks at him but, inexorably, his hands keeps drawing the same smile over and over again and his mind keeps wandering away, imagining other eyes, chocolate brown ones, that used to twinkle in a similar way.</p><p>He remembers now why he stopped sketching people a long time ago.</p><p>He throws his sketchbook away and takes his pack of cigarette from a side pocket. The alpha comes back when he blows out his first puff and he lies down on the cot next to him. He looks refreshed somehow, clean. Maybe he found a shower in that fucking camp. The man doesn't say a word. </p><p>Steve closes his eyes and takes another drag. "It's male." He whispers in a sigh as he blows the smoke away.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"The fucking bitch." Steve repeats. "It's male."</p><p>"A <em>male</em> omega." Rumlow says, sounding amused. "How precious!" He scoots closer to Steve, remaining on his own cot. "I've actually never met one for real, you know?"</p><p>Steve snorts. "Yeah, you did. You just don't know it, that's all." Although, Steve is aware that less than one percent of the omega population is male.</p><p>The alpha scoffs. "Fucking scent-confusers!" He exclaims. "They should be forbidden."</p><p>Steve laughs softly and takes another drag. "You wanna know something funny?"</p><p>Rumlow hauls himself on the cot and stares down at him with an expectant smile.</p><p>"I was almost eighteen when I presented."</p><p>"Wow." The alpha exclaims disbelievingly. "You said you were a late bloomer, Rogers, but—"</p><p>Steve laughs. "Yeah..." He agrees, slightly bitterly. "I knew I liked male alphas though, he continues. "I was... I was <em>convinced</em> that I was omega then." Rumlow lets out a surprised giggle. "I basically spent my entire senior year fantasizing about the new kid, imagining him bending me over, my ass dripping for him."</p><p>The alpha's laugh quiets down slowly and he swallows. "And?"</p><p>"And it turned out <em>I</em> was the alpha..." Steve pauses, remembering that day when Tony had come to his room and the way his eyes went wide when Steve suggested he be on top. He feels a sweet twinge in his heart but ignores it. He just lets out a shivering sigh.  "And he was the omega." He whispers.</p><p>"Cute!" Rumlow jokes. "What a disappointment, though..." He then says, like a cry from the bottom of his heart. "I can't believe you actually spent five years of your life without getting fucked, seeing how knot-hungry you are."</p><p>"And how many times in your life did you get fucked, man? Huh?" Steve teases. "And, well... For the records? Male omegas have dicks."</p><p>"You mean that tiny little worm dangling between their legs that can't even get hard?"</p><p>Steve brings his hand to his face and chuckles exasperatedly. "No, I mean normal-sized dicks that can get rock-hard. For <em>hours,</em> man. You really watch too much porn."</p><p>The alpha snorts and shows an unconvinced pouts. "Well, they don't have knots though... and they still smell omega." Sure they do, Steve thinks. He still gets hard when he remembers Tony's sweet and spicy scent when he was aroused. He salivates just thinking about it. "And they get slick..." The alpha keeps on and flinches in disgust at the thought of it. "Ew."</p><p>"I'm not even sure they actually get wet if they're not with an alpha..." Steve adds pensively. He wonders what kind of sex Tony's had all those years.</p><p>"Yeah, maybe... " Rumlow says as he lies back down on the cot and throws his arms behind his head. "I, for one, always knew I was an alpha into male alphas."</p><p>Steve takes another drag and turns his head to him. "Always?"</p><p>"Yeah. As far as I remember anyway... My mum... I remember she spent entire evenings trying to explain to me why Iron Man and Captain America couldn't get married, because they were both alphas..."</p><p>Steve burst out laughing. "Really? Oh my god... How old were you then?"</p><p>"Don't know, four or five years old, something like that—"</p><p>"How cute!"</p><p>"My parents, I guess, always thought that I'd grow out of it at some point, but I knew... Deep inside, I knew what I was."</p><p>Steve clears his throat. "How did they take the news?" He asks without much conviction. And then he realizes how intimate their conversation is and that it's the longest he's ever talked with someone he has fucked. It's rather disconcerting. He takes another drag.</p><p>"Badly. Haven't spoken with them in years. Don't even know if they're still alive."</p><p>"Shit..." Steve exclaims, despite himself. The alpha doesn't seem to want to expand on the subject however.</p><p>"You?" He asks as a diversion.</p><p>"My mum was really cool about it, actually. I told her the same day I presented." Rumlow hums beside him, attentive to his every word and reaction. Steve feels a shiver down his spine. He's conflicted. As much as he doesn't want it, he must admit that it's nice. "And then the next day," he carries on, "I introduced her to my very <em>omega</em> boyfriend..."</p><p>The alpha smiles softly beside him. "How did she react?" </p><p>Steve was already lost in his thoughts. A whirlwind of memories suddenly highjacking his brain. "Smacked my head and gave me a pack of condoms." He mutters.</p><p>The sudden memory sends a wave a despair through him. He doesn't even pay attention to the alpha laughing next to him. He remembers his mum and how happy and supportive she was about them. He remembers Tony's smile that day. How happy he looked. It was the same happy smile that an older Tony bore the night just before he left. Across from him, while they were eating what Steve had cooked. Tony was happy then, and enthusiastic, and full of ideas and plans for the future. For <em>their</em> future. It was was so simple then. Everything they shared, it was simple and true and fucking beautiful. They were <em>happy.</em> They were <em>so</em> happy. Steve was going to propose. That Christmas. He had planned everything. His mum had helped. She had been so happy about it.</p><p>He feels his chest constrict and a lump growing in his throat, to the point he can't breathe anymore. He tries to swallow it but only gurgles uglily. The cigarette in his hand starts burning his fingers but he doesn't throw it away. He stares at the ceiling, feeling his smile freezing and becoming strained but he can't move his lips anymore. His heart starts racing or slowing down until death catches him, he isn't even sure of the sensations in his own body. He's too fucking high for that.</p><p>His whole body shudders and there's a tear, a single tear, that escapes his control and drips down his temple. "I'm so glad..." He lets out in a choked out, broken whisper. More to himself than to the alpha who's silent next to him, turned on his side to listen to him. "I'm so glad she's not here anymore to see what I've become." </p><p>He's not even sure the last words actually came out of his mouth. He feels cold, despite the heat, and frozen in place. The cigarette keeps burning his fingers.</p><p>And then he feels the alpha's gentle hand cupping his face softly. "Dammit Rogers," he exclaims hoarsely, a tinge of hurt in his voice. "He really fucked you up, ain't he? That omega of yours..."</p><p>Steve sucks in a shuddering breath and throws the cigarette butt away, finally. He turns his head to see the alpha staring at him worriedly, barely inches from his face. He doesn't get enough time to startle and already feels his lips on him, soft, affectionate and comforting. </p><p>Steve moans into his mouth and lets the tears flow out of him while they deepen the kiss. He wraps his arms around him and pulls him into a soft embrace. The alpha climbs over him and settles between his legs while they keep kissing tenderly, groaning and growling into each other's mouths.</p><p>Steve's tears dry and his dark memories fade away and the despair he felt vanishes, replaced by something warm and fuzzy pooling at the bottom of his stomach. He's getting hard as the alpha's hot body keeps grinding against him. They kiss more. And the alpha slides down his chest, kisses him in the neck, makes him shudder with want. Then he goes lower, kissing down his chest. Steve cups his face in his hands and throws his head back, pinching and biting his lips as desire runs through him like jolts of electricity. He lets out a lustful moan.</p><p>"Let me take care of you, Captain." Rumlow whispers huskily. He's between his legs and fumbles with his pants. He takes his fully hard cock out and runs his wet mellow tongue from the hilt to the head, making him shiver from head to toe. He puts his lips around his cock and makes Steve gasp. Steve tenses and buckles his hips up, thrusting into the alpha's mouth. The man swallows him slowly then he starts sucking harder, bobbing up and down his shaft. It's soft and sweet and loving at first and then it turns rough as Rumlow tries to swallow him down his throat. Steve moans. His toes curl. His body shudders. Rumlow groans and vibrates around him. It doesn't take long for Steve to come into his mouth in a repressed whimper.</p><p>The alpha swallows everything and moans. He drops the dick right before Steve knots inflates in his mouth. Steve still buckles his hips up though, seeking the warmth of the alpha's mouth. He grabs his hair and brutally tugs on his head to put his mouth back on his knot. The alpha chuckles but lets him manhandle him. His tongue willingly licks his knot and he swallows the tip of Steve's knot while Steve pushes down on his head so he would swallow more of it. Rumlow seems to like it as much as Steve likes it.</p><p>When Steve's knot finally deflates the alpha licks his lips clean and lies down on his own cot, a blissed smile on his lips that probably matches Steve's. Steve already misses his warmth but the cots barely support one man's weight. Post-sex cuddling sounds a little tricky unfortunately. </p><p>Steve closes his eyes, smile spread on his lips, mind finally blank, he's already starting to doze off but shakes himself out of it. He leans over the alpha's cot and catches his mouth into a thankful kiss and then runs his hand down his heaving chest. The alpha grabs it before he can reach his hard-on.</p><p>"Don't you want me to reciprocate?" </p><p>The alpha chuckles softly. "No, it's fine, Rogers. Just get your beauty sleep, alright? I'd like to live after tonight, if you don't mind..." </p><p>Steve snorts and lies back on his own cot. He already feels sleep taking him over. He jerks his arm on the side and grabs the alpha's hand. "Hey, Brock?"</p><p>Rumlow hums sleepily next to him. </p><p>"You know about that dinner thing..." He says while dozing off. He hears the alpha ruffle next to him. "Let's talk about it after this, alright?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's already getting dark when Steve wakes up. They still have a couple of hours before they need to go. Steve studies the maps and data they were given once again, preparing his strategy.</p><p>Again, he is the first one to arrive at their meeting point. They are provided with a Marauder and two soldiers will accompany them to the location and guard the vehicle. General Gabriel and Colonel Rhodes see them through it.  </p><p>Steve has everyone check their comms and assigns his instructions to each agent before they all climb in the vehicle. He's the last one to get in and discreetly snorts coke before hopping in at the back the Marauder, with his team. The journey is relatively quiet apart from Steve's instructions.</p><p>At about two miles away from the supposed location, Steve has the vehicle stop. </p><p>"We're almost two miles from what the GPS indicates, Captain." The driver, a younger soldier named Johnson, says.</p><p>"We'll walk." Steve answers casually.</p><p>"It will take us thirty minutes, at least, to get there." Agent Keller remarks.</p><p>"We're still walking." Steve repeats, slightly annoyed. "The wind is blowing west, if we get any closer they will hear us." His team is a highly-trained counter-terrorist Special Mission Unit but none of them know the Afghan desert like he does. "Do I need to remind you that this is a stealthy operation?" </p><p>"With all due respect, Sir, I shall remind you that we have to carry 200 lbs of explosives."</p><p>"I'm well aware, Diaz. Thank you."</p><p>"But—"</p><p>Steve growls and answers drily. "You were all chosen for this mission because you're our best agents on the field. Are you telling me you don't have the necessary skills to carry it out? If that's so, now is the moment to tell me and I will carry your load of explosives."</p><p>Agent Diaz lowers her head. "No, Sir."</p><p>"Good." Steve snaps. "Are there any other requests before we start?" He asks, slightly sarcastically. No-one moves. "Great. Everyone out now." They all climb out of the vehicle and unload the material while Steve gives his last instructions to the two soldiers remaining on the spot.</p><p>"So," he starts, "Diaz, Piper, you take 25 lbs each. The others, 30 lbs. Any objections?"</p><p>"No, Sir."</p><p>"Right, so I repeat, Team Alpha: Officer Rumlow, Agent Rollins. Team Beta: Agent Keller, Agent Piper. Team Delta: Agent Diaz, Agent Gibbs. Team Delta, you're in charge of the explosives. Dispatch them in all the strategic points we discussed. Red dots on your maps. If you locate the hostages, contact me immediately. Team Alpha, Team Beta. Your job is to locate the hostages and make sure we can retrieve the hostage safely. Same procedure, report to me. All of you, upload the data on your GPS regularly, we need to have a visual as precise as possible. Our current data is from the satellites and it's about twenty five percent accurate. Sabotage everything you can as long as it doesn't get your presence detected. Remain silent as much as possible. I shall remind you that I have access to all your communications at all times. If I don't reply after three attempts, consider Officer Rumlow as your lead commander on this mission and you'll have to answer to him. Any questions?"</p><p>"What about you, Cap?" Rollins asks.</p><p>"I'm better off on my own. I always work solo. Any problem with that?" </p><p>They all shake their head silently.</p><p>"So, basic rules," Steve carries on, "take only the bare necessities. Reduce your weapons to the minimum. Use your flashlights for emergencies only. We move in the dark as much as we can, use infrared if needed. No talking on the way, noise goes far in the desert."</p><p>"Yes, Sir."</p><p>"As soon as we leave the vehicle, we lose contact with the base. If anything happens, you can contact Officer Kane, here, with your long range walkie-talkies. Questions?" </p><p>"We're good, Captain."</p><p>"Perfect. Let's go."</p><p>They walk in silence to the indicated location and arrive onto a basic ramshackle building. It's only camouflage though because they're climbing a hill and the building seems to spread on dozens of yards. They bypass the building and update their data and spot three different entrances. Only two are guarded. </p><p>"Team Alpha: take the main entrance. Neutralize the surveillance. Minimum noise, maximum efficiency. I know I can count on you, guys. Then, explore the southern area. Take 10 lbs of explosives with you, just in case. Report to me if you see anything unusual."</p><p>"Sure, Cap."</p><p>"Team Beta, take the northern entrance. It's most likely trapped. Be careful and most of all, discreet. We go ninja on them. Have you got everything you need to pick the locks?" The two agents nods. "Take 10 lbs as well and explore the area. Same procedure."</p><p>"Team Delta. Take the rest of the explosives with you. Be careful, it will restrict your movements. It is absolutely necessary not to get detected. I'll take ten lbs as well and go with you to start with so I can cover for you. We'll take the western entrance but you'll need to cover the entire area. Am I clear?"</p><p>They both nod as well. "Yes, Cap."</p><p>"I repeat. Be stealthy. Neutralize the enemy as much as possible. We're not the good guys, here. No quarter. Spare the leaders if you can, they might want to take them in for interrogation. If you have a doubt, kill on sight. No guns. I want a report on the figures regularly. The number of men living here has been estimated between twenty and one hundred and fifty. We need to reduce that to a minimum and I need a precise number. Our priority remains the hostage's safety, at all costs. Questions?"</p><p>They shake their head. "Nope."</p><p>"Good. I repeat. Keep silent. No guns. No flashlight."</p><p>"Yes, Sir."</p><p>They go separate ways. Steve escorts Agent Diaz and Agent Gibbs to the western entrance and easily neutralizes the two guards, leaving no trace. They get inside. The building is quiet and as Steve suspected, much more sophisticated than the exterior appearance might lead to think, although still very basic. It's as messy as the rest of the country. It's a fucking maze. They cut the power when they can but there are several sources—single, basic generators powered with fuel—and the two agents starts dispatching the explosives, while Steve covers for them and neutralizes the enemy if necessary. After about twenty minutes, Steve leaves the Delta team to its task and goes his own way, exploring the eastern area. As soon as he's on his own, he dopes himself more and when the high is full on, he moves on.</p><p>He finds some kind of empty lab and decides to retrieve the data from the few, not recent, computers that are there. While he switches them on one by one, it takes time so he searches the area for data.</p><p>"Delta, report."</p><p>"We're almost done with covering the western area, heading north."</p><p>"How many casualties?"</p><p>"Four, Sir. No-one knows we're here for now."</p><p>"Good, keep going and be careful. Leave your load on the spot if needed. Priority remains stealth."</p><p>"Okay, Cap."</p><p>"Beta, report."</p><p>"There's nothing there, Cap. Just empty living quarters."</p><p>"Empty?"</p><p>"Empty now." Keller snorts.</p><p>"What's your count?"</p><p>"Five men but there seem to be some kind of sleeping area further. Most of them are there, I suppose."</p><p>"Right, keep going. Neutralize anyone awake, let the others sleep. We can't afford being outnumbered. Try to give me an estimated number, however. Remain discreet and keep searching."</p><p>"Alright cap. We'll keep you up to date."</p><p>"Also, contact Delta and update your GPS data. They're joining you, guys."</p><p>"Yes, Sir!"</p><p>Steve finds some files that could come in handy and shoves them into his backpack. </p><p>"Are you there, Cap?"</p><p>Rumlow's voice sounds warm in his ear, somehow. "Yes, commander."</p><p>"We've found a tunnel that seems to lead underneath the hill."</p><p>"How far does it go?"</p><p>"Pretty far, I think. We're walking into it." </p><p>"Keep exploring and update your data. Any casualties?"</p><p>"Only the four guards at the entrance and one random passerby. Also, there's something else, cap."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Weapons..."</p><p>"Weapons?"</p><p>"Like loads of them, brand new, US made weapons. Stark Logo everywhere. And I'm not talking guns, here, rather... <em>missiles,</em> if you see what I mean... There's enough arsenal for the next world war, man."</p><p>Steve ignores the way his heart leaps in his chest at the mention of the name but ignores it. The implications of this are too serious to get into it right now. He needs to stay focused and it's getting harder and harder.</p><p>"Shit! That wasn't planned."</p><p>"Do you think this is somehow related to our mission? Maybe Hydra had a hand in this."</p><p>"No idea, but that's none of our concern. Our mission is the hostage. We focus on our mission, it's not our place to decide what to do with the weapons. We'll mention it in debrief."</p><p>"You're okay to let those terrorists have that kind of weapons?"</p><p>"Don't give a shit... But you still have your explosives, right?"</p><p>"Hum hum."</p><p>"Set them up."</p><p>"Didn't wait for your order, cap!" The alpha sounds joyful and puts a smile on Steve's lips.</p><p>"Good, I like when you take initiatives, commander..." He answers huskily, feeling in a flirty mood.</p><p>What game is he playing at, seriously?</p><p>Rumlow snorts at the other end of the line. "And you know how much I like to please you." He replies and Steve can't help thinking about the face Rollins must be doing next to him.</p><p>It makes him smile again. "Enough flirting, more action." He snaps, in a pretend growl. "Keep exploring the tunnel and keep me up-to-date."</p><p>"Aye, aye, captain."</p><p>Steve snorts.</p><p>"Communication might get difficult though, we're going deep." The alpha says more seriously.</p><p>"Use short waves, then."</p><p>"'kay. We'll keep you up-to-date if we find anything."</p><p>Steve uploaded everything that was on the hard drives, you never know. As usual, he always comes prepared. When he's done searching the lab, he hears people coming his way and hides. They seem to be scientists. Two of them at least, one of them looks more like a combatant. They speak Arabic. Steve knows a few words but not enough to understand them. He recognizes the word 'weapon.' They are seemingly looking at blueprints. He needs to get out of here.</p><p>He creates a diversion and snaps the soldier's neck. He neutralizes the two others before they can alert anyone. Minimum noise, maximum efficiency. He keeps on exploring, hiding in the dark. He wishes he could find where the leaders are. It would makes things simpler.</p><p>"Captain?"</p><p>"Keller?"</p><p>"We found the hostages."</p><p>His heart makes a leap. "How many hostages?" </p><p>"Five. Four soldiers, most likely, and an old guy who seems to be in really bad shape."  </p><p>"The omega?"</p><p>"I don't think so, none of them smell omega to me but we can't rule out that they might have given them blockers."</p><p>"Have they seen you?"</p><p>"Nope. No-one's seen us, yet. But there're at least thirty men sleeping a few yards away."</p><p>"Shit. Find a way to retrieve them safely, unconscious if needed be. Don't let them see you. We can't trust any of them."</p><p>"You know us, cap!"</p><p>Steve gets going. If the omega wasn't among the hostages, it means he's kept somewhere else or that he's never been here in the first place, or worse, he's already dead. Steve knew the first moment Rumlow briefed him through it that this mission would go wrong at some point. He'd rather it starts backsliding sooner rather than later. </p><p>He needs to neutralize another couple of passersby and heads south. He snorts another line of coke. "Delta. Report."</p><p>"Heading east, cap." </p><p>"The path is clear. Don't take too much time."</p><p>"Copied."</p><p>"Alpha, report."</p><p>There's no answer.</p><p>"Alpha! Report!"</p><p>Still no answer. Steve changes direction and heads south. </p><p>"Captain. Do you copy?"</p><p>"I've been trying to reach you, guys. Is everything alright?"</p><p>"We're in a bit of situation."</p><p>"How serious?"</p><p>"Level 8 situation."</p><p>"Don't move and send me the coordinates."</p><p>"I don't think this is a good idea, Captain. We've very likely found the hostage."</p><p>Steve's heart starts racing. It's a good news but at the same time, the tone in Rumlow's voice makes him anxious. It smells suddenly bad. <em>Really. Fucking. Bad.</em></p><p>"Stay there." He croaks. "I'm on my way." He starts running and finds the tunnel in no time. The path has already been cleared. He can see the stocks of missiles and they're astronomical.  </p><p>"Cap? You really should stay the fuck away from here. Rollins's gonna look after him. We need to find a way to get him out without rousing a pack of alphas. We'll never be able to take him outside with us discreetly. Not in this state."</p><p>"That bad?"</p><p>"Honeyed-peach and caramel roses bad. I can't stand it anymore."</p><p>Steve lets out a nervous laugh. "Have Rollins cocooning you!" He coos and turns serious again. "Wait for me. I need to see the area."</p><p>"Okay. I'll try to send you the coordinates." Steve is already running at full speed. He makes mistakes and almost gets discovered. He can already perceive a small tinge of the fragrance  floating in the air. It's messing with his head. "Oh, and you'll never guess who the bitch is." Rumlow teases nonchalantly. </p><p>Steve's mind is already going fuzzy. "I'm almost there." He's running so fast he nearly trips over some rocks twice but catches himself in time before pathetically falling flat on his face.</p><p>"Guess whose name we saw everywhere on the weapons..."</p><p>He vaguely hears the distant voice of Rumlow through the comms but it takes him a moment to register the information. By the time he does he's found the entrance to a cave. There are three bodies in front of a wooden door. A sweet perfume pervades in the tunnel. The smell is already strong and dizzying and his heart starts racing so fast he can feel it pounding against his temples.</p><p>Steve stumbles as he pushes the door open and rushes inside. He comes to an abrupt halt when he enters and stops breathing for a moment, feeling a sharp pain throughout his body, his senses going haywire. His heartbeat slows down. In fact everything around him slows down as he gets immersed in an alternate dimension. He freezes, body rooted the spot, shuddering from head to toe. Unable to control his urges. He can feel his cock harden like he's not part of it at all and the need, so urgent, so powerful, to <em>claim.</em> </p><p>He hears himself growl from the bottom of his throat. He can feel his hackles raise and his nose flare. The presence of another alpha in the room just riles him up. His hands are trembling and he shakes spasmodically like he's about to jump on him. As well as an excruciating blinding lust, an overpowering surge of aggressiveness flushes through him. </p><p>Steve had never been with an omega in heat before. The smell is somewhat familiar and yet completely new.</p><p>His blurred vision slowly becomes clearer. He's looking at a cage inside which a dark-haired man is handcuffed. Their eyes lock into each other's. He'd recognize those eyes anywhere, at any time, even with the way they are veiled with a lewd haze he had never seen before right now. No matter how long he hasn't seen them for. He's still frozen, unable to move a limb as another wave, another heavy electrical charge runs through him, shaking him to the core. This time it's not physical but <em>emotional.</em></p><p>How many times had he imagined his next meeting with Tony Stark? How many times he had dreamed about it, pictured it, every detail of it, anticipated it, wished for it, dreaded it? How many times... during those fucking fifteen years?</p><p>Like a man about to die, Steve sees his whole life pass by before his eyes. Those five years of happiness they had both shared, and those fifteen years of loneliness and misery. His hopes, his disappointments, his joys, his sadnesses, his victories, his failures, his bliss, his angst. Everything that made him human then. Everything he has lost in the depth of his indifference. The pain is fierce and acute in his chest, piercing through his heart like thousands arrows.</p><p>This is overwhelming.</p><p>He can't breathe anymore. He feels a lump choking him in his throat and he gurgles as he tries to swallow it. He's unable to move, still frozen. His eyes are fixed on the omega. Their eyes still locked into each other's by an invisible chain.</p><p>Now that the first wave of sheer lust fades slowly and his mind becomes clearer, he can see the way the man is lying on the sandy ground, back reclining on the rocky, damp walls of the cave. He's spread out, limp, struggling with waves of lust flushing through him. Sweat drips along his temples, wetting his long, sticky dark-hair. His legs are shaking. He looks in pain, exhausted and beaten, unkempt and yet younger than the pictures on the magazines. Younger and sexier and more handsome in his grimy and disheveled appearance, even with the obvious bruises on his face and everywhere on his body that Steve could catch a glimpse of.</p><p>His scent spikes and gets even more intense, calling for him. He whimpers softly, unable to smother it any longer. Steve's body reacts immediately but he slowly comes to his senses, taking his surroundings again.</p><p>He can feel the strong presence of the alpha next to him. He can feel his arousal and his aggressiveness he struggles to keep under control but also his confusion and growing concern. He can feel the beta as well, the way his eyes are raking over him, and his utter bewilderment.</p><p>He can hear them talking, in the distance, as if he wasn't there but there at the same time, as if everything was a dream, or rather the worst nightmare he had ever lived through.</p><p>"Brock? What the fuck is happening?"</p><p>The alpha's voice is uncertain somehow, almost shivering. "I don't know... they're just really compatible, I guess."</p><p>"Fuck, this <em>is</em> intense. Is it me? Or the omega smells stronger?"</p><p>"Yeah, I can feel it."</p><p>"What's wrong with Cap, man?"</p><p>The alpha swallows painfully. "I don't know..."</p><p>He steps closer. He shouldn't step closer. If he steps closer Steve might go for his throat. He should step away from him, and from the omega.</p><p>The alpha is on his guard though, probably sensing the unusually intense aggressiveness in his stance. "Steve?" He asks tentatively, voice meant to be soothing. "Are you alright?"</p><p>He snaps out of it.</p><p>But he can't keep his eyes away from the omega. The omega is still staring at him, eyes intense and wanting, lips parted lewdly.</p><p>"Secure the perimeter and clear the path for his extraction. We're getting the hostage out of here, safe and sound. I'll stay here and watch over him."</p><p>The alpha swallows. "I don't think this is a good idea."</p><p>"Have I asked for your opinion, commander? Do as I say, it's an order."</p><p>"Come on, Steve. Be reasonable! You're half-way through rut. Let Rollins watch over him. He's not affected... but we both are. It's too late give him blockers now. Are you sure you can trust yourself in this state?"</p><p>"I can handle myself fine, commander." </p><p>"You're not thinking straight right now, Captain."</p><p>Steve growls assertively and the alpha flinches, submitting to him. "Are you discussing orders, Rumlow?"</p><p>"No, Sir."</p><p>"Do as you're told!" Steve snarls. "Secure the perimeter. Clear the path. Then, you come back here and we take him with us. I'll give you fifteen minutes."</p><p>The alpha nods. "At your command, captain." He says.</p><p>His voice sounds hurt somehow but Steve doesn't really pay attention, he kept staring into the omega's eyes the entire time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so.... decided to divide this chapter in two, or may three parts...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here comes full on Dark Steve Rogers! </p><p>Enjoy the ride! :) (Yes, there is a 'sarcasm' sign in my hands right now...)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as the alpha left the cave, Steve's level of aggressiveness started to decrease slowly until only sheer lust obscured his brain. He has found an old chair in the cave and is currently sitting on it, trying to control his urges, keeping his eyes on the omega. His feelings are going haywire. He doesn't have it in him right now to make sense of them.</p><p>Neither of them has uttered a single word, yet. What a joyful reunion...</p><p>The omega is flushed and keeps sweating and shivering. He's been sliding down the rocks until he was completely on the ground, squirming and spasming with intense, although repressed, desire. He holds back his lewd moans and they come out as long agonizing whimpers. Waves of slick flow out of him. Steve can smell them and they mess with his senses. </p><p>Steve lets his eyes rake over him, trying to suppress the tremor in his hands. He's rock hard as the sweet smell of Tony's slick invades his nostril. He has been since he entered the cave. His eyes linger on the untouched, naked, bonding gland that he can see a glimpse of underneath the omega's disheveled shirt. The way he is positioned on the ground, forehead leaning on the ground, slightly tilted on the side, his body turned on his side, huddled and squirming, and his hands tied behind his back, somehow makes him look like an offering. He's baring his neck and the reddish swollen gland pulsates rapidly.</p><p>It's not the first time Steve sees Tony's gland pulsate, although he wasn't in heat before. It was for him then, that it pulsated.<em> Only</em> for him. Now he doesn't know anymore. His instincts tell him the omega's body wants him but Tony is fighting it with all his intent and there is something else that lurks behind the veil of lust in his eyes. Something Steve is too tense to try to determine. </p><p>Steve is suddenly remembering his boyfriend, young and fiery, riding him enthusiastically, eyes glimmering with genuine lust and want, open, offered, giving himself entirely, his toned body undulating slowly but vigorously on his cock, his smile blissed, so gorgeous. The Tony that Steve knew has always been gorgeous, so full of life and hope. His eyes sparkled with passion and optimism. Steve has never seen that sparkle again in public Tony's expression. There was always something strained about it, something a little wrong. Wrong in the way the omega sometimes appeared in public, fighting his instincts all the time. He has always looked like the epitome of an alpha, from his tall and sturdy shape to his assertive stance, while Steve was just a short and sickly insecure kid.</p><p>How ironic! Look at them now...</p><p>The omega whimpers again. It sounds equally wrenching and enticing, like a cry for help and a wheeze of pain. Their eyes are still locked into each other and Steve thinks he can decipher what lingers behind the hazy chocolate browns of the omega. It's fear and perhaps loathing. He feels a pang in his chest.</p><p>Steve had asked Tony to get off his suppressants several times. He had wanted to share a heat together, even just once. Tony always blatantly refused. He didn't want kids, didn't want to be dependent on an alpha, always wanted to be free. He was scared, Steve used to think. He doesn't know what to think anymore now. Was that all a fucking lie? When they were together they both used scent-confusers but after his parents died Tony Stark revealed his real gender and status to the entire world, proud and bold. Steve had even admired him then. </p><p>The frustration grows strong in his heart, mingling with lust and lingering feelings of love, and hatred.</p><p>He takes a cigarette and lights it, glaring at the omega, his knot ready to blow up just for him.</p><p>The omega squirms again. He turns on his side, completely, eyes still plunged in his, pupils blown-out and desperate, he's rock hard too, Steve notices. </p><p>"You're smoking now?" He says with a hoarse, husky voice and <em>fuck... </em>That voice, although it sounds broken now, brings back so many memories that Steve feels a shiver in his entire body at the sound of it.</p><p>He doesn't grant the omega with an answer though, because even through the lewd slur Steve could hear the judgment in the tone and the anger and frustration grows stronger in his heart. His leg starts shaking nervously and he bends over his lap, sinking his elbows into his thighs to put a stop to it. Eyes never letting go of the omega.</p><p>"I would have never ever imagined this was what you'd be fifteen years later. Captain? Are you military?" </p><p>Steve stares annoyedly into his eyes and blows out the smoke from his damaged lungs in his direction, repressing a cough as it scorches his throat. "Well, I guess we've never really known each other... I thought you'd be married with two kids by now and look where is it that I've got the pleasure of meeting you again."</p><p>The omega turns his head upwards and breaks the eye-contact that had started the moment Steve came in. He lets out a long, mirthless snigger while he squirms and rolls on his back, hissing and grunting since his hands are still hand-cuffed from behind, trying to adjust his position so it would be less painful for him. His clothes are damp and dirt sticks to them as he wriggles his body on the ground. His movements are tense and jerky. His chest is heaving, fast and heavily. His legs are spread and he whines again, in pain. Then he turns his head back to him, eyes intensely lewd and wanting, lips parted. </p><p>"Come on, Rogers..." He says with a condescending smile. "You've always known I've never been that guy."</p><p>Steve snorts, smile bitter on his lips. "I wish I'd gotten the clue earlier, though... I can't believe I've wasted five years of my life on you."</p><p>"Is this really what you think?" Tony asks, without expecting any kind of answers from Steve. "So you've been indulging me then, coming with me to all those OmegaLib meetings... but all this time you were secretly wishing that one day I'd stop doing what I like to feed you and wipe your ass while breastfeeding our five pups... What a joke!"</p><p>Steve can feel the sparks of anger run through his veins. His eye see red for a split second. He jerks on his chair and spits on the ground. "You don't know the first thing about me, bitch." Then, he snorts and takes another drag, blatantly glaring at him.</p><p>His expression looks startled for a moment and then an acrid smile spread on his lips. "I guess I don't." He just says while his smile fades away to leave place to a wanton, blurred gaze.</p><p>The omega's eyes wander away from him, losing their focus. He looks high. He keeps squirming, jerking his hips up and lets out another dreadful whimper, trying to smother it by pinching his lips as hard as he can. It looks painful and Steve realizes he's actually trying to find some kind of release. With his hands tied up he can't even jerk off and his body spasms as waves of yearning desire seemingly ripple through him. Then his body goes limp and he slumps on his back, hands still tied up, while slick flows out of him again. The smell of it stings Steve's nostrils. </p><p>Steve keeps staring at him indifferently and takes a last drag before throwing his cigarette butt on the ground. Now the omega is motionless, lying on the ground, helpless and suffering. He's breathing hard and there's a discouraged tear that seems to be dripping down his temple as he's finally given up struggling. He turns his face on the side and starts retching, spewing the very little he had in his stomach. </p><p>"Looks really painful..." Steve says, and if there's a little bit of sarcasm in his voice, well... he couldn't help it.</p><p>Tony laughs again, trying to wipe his mouth with his shoulder. He fails. "No shit!" He exclaims and immediately smothers a cry of pain afterwards. "Haven't had a heat in more than twenty years. Seems like my body's coming back at me with a vengeance." He adds self-deprecatingly. </p><p>The words are bitter and desperate and Steve feels sorry for him. He sits up and forces a gentle expression on his face. "I could help you through it, you know?" He mutters softly, genuinely concerned. </p><p>The omega laughs again but it almost sounds like a sob. "The last thing I want is <em>you,</em> helping me through it, Rogers. Stay the fuck away from that cage!" He demands, in a broken, shivering voice. He's almost growling and, for a short moment, the sound of it makes Steve feel warm inside. He feels some sort of respect for the man that's lying at his feet right now, struggling against his nature with all his will, a desperate act and an already lost fight but he keeps fighting anyway. This is touching somehow.</p><p>The feeling doesn't last long however because at the same time, his slow, rut-confused mind catches up on the words the omega just said. It hurts. The blatant rejection hurts. They shouldn't affect him the ways it does but those words feel like a dagger piercing through his heart. Steve sees red again, blinded with rage and reminiscent heartache. Besides, he's really not in the mood to take orders from a fucking omega. He jerks up in a leap and walks over to the cage, despite all common sense. He doesn't have much common sense left in his state anyway, he supposes. The constant hard-on gives him a headache.</p><p>The omega turned on his front, doubled over on his knees, hands on his back, face on the ground, cringing with pain. He whimpers plaintively. His ass, completely offered in this position, wriggles in want. It's a nice view and yet equally wrenching.</p><p>"That's not what your body says, though." He whispers in a croaky voice, tone mean. "You heard them, right? We're very compatible, it seems." There's an ugly tinge of pride in his words.</p><p>"Fuck my body!" Tony slurs. "I'm <em>not</em> just a fucking <em>body."</em></p><p>That sounds so much like the crap he used to hear at those meetings. The funny thing is, he used to believe it then. He has <em>always</em> believed it. Because the same thing could be said about alphas. He's always thought he was more than his fucking biology. Now, though, at this precise moment, there's a part of him that couldn't care less. He steps closer and grabs the iron bars of the cage. He swallows painfully at the sight of the omega wriggling in the dirt. He has tears in his eyes and a desperate, almost fearful expression.</p><p>Steve is torn... between his growing rage and frustration, his lingering affection and his protective instincts. He's very well-intentioned when he leans over the cage, instinctively jerking his hips forward and holding out a hand. The tone of his voice is surprisingly soft and reassuring, considering the turmoil he feels inside. "I could, at least, give you some water and maybe take off those handcuffs, don't you think?"</p><p>He doesn't wait for the omega's approval to fetch his water and hold it in front of him. The omega finds the strength to straighten up on his knees and crawls up to the iron bars. He tries to look up at Steve, but fails, his instincts wanting him submissive. His hazy eyes wander away but he still tilts his head back and parts his lips so Steve can pours some water in his mouth, for lack of pouring something else in it, instead.</p><p>The omega's face is only a few inches away from his stomach like that, so close from his crotch. His hard cock involuntarily twitches in his pants and Steve lets a horny gasp at the sight of the omega's tongue. He should probably step away but pure lust flickers through the omega's eyes and he leans into him, seeking the warmth and comfort of his scent and Steve cannot resist that. He curls his fingers around the nape of the omega's neck and pulls him closer. the touch is electrifying and shoots sparks of pleasure down his spine and right up to the tip of his cock. The omega's skin is burning like he's running a high fever, maybe he is. Steve doesn't know shit about heats and he couldn't care less right now anyway, because the omega rubs his face on his crotch through the bars and whines with want, tears dripping down his cheeks.</p><p>"I really wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, Tony." He whispers in despair, voice raspy with unabashed desire.</p><p>The words come out so gently from his mouth he even surprises himself. He hasn't felt so willingly gentle in such a long time and what's even more surprising is that it's genuine. Some left-overs from past Steve, surely. It almost feels nice.</p><p>The weird sensation doesn't last long unfortunately. The omega snivels and forces his head back, unwilling to indulge in the amazing sensation. "You should have listened to your subordinate and let that beta guy watch over me." He chokes out in a faltering whisper.</p><p>Again, the biting, heinous words feel like a dagger through his heart and his brain crashes for a split-second. When he comes out of it, he feels the rage spread in his entire body. His nose flares and his vision becomes dotted. He can feel his shaking hand grab the omega's neck with strength and squeeze dominantly.</p><p>The omega huffs out a gasp. His eyes waver.</p><p>Steve chuckles bitterly. "You'd rather have some random guy force you down on your knees instead?" He snaps through gritted teeth, smile bitter on his lips. Something prickles at the corner of his eyes.</p><p>"Yes." The omega chokes out. This time he looks up and behind the veil of lust in his eyes, Steve can clearly see the hatred. The omega grits his teeth in an attempt to dominate his own instincts.</p><p>Steve squeezes harder, blocking his airways. The omega's face flush with the lack of air but he doesn't struggle. On the contrary, he's pliant and his eyes wander away again, all that belligerent fierceness gone. The only thing that holds him straight is the strength of Steve's grip. </p><p>He snaps out of it and lets go before he kills him. The omega drops on the ground and wavers on his knees. He looks down this time. "If I have to be raped, then I'd really rather it not be by <em>you." </em></p><p>Steve's heart twinges. The words ripple through him like waves of agonizing pain. He feels like vomiting but only lets out a mirthless chuckle. He brushes the knuckles on his hand on the omega's flushed and sweaty cheek. </p><p>"Is that what it felt like to you," he rasps in a faltering voice, "those five years we were together? Like I was raping you?" </p><p>Fuck, it is so painful! Steve just threw some salt on his own wounds and it backfired. He is the only one who cares apparently. The omega doesn't answer. He just looks up at him and parts his lips, some sort of sympathy dancing in his hazy eyes. Steve represses the urge to spit on his face and slap him until he bleeds.</p><p>He steps away and stares down at the omega with a mix of despise, bitter anger and sweet melancholy. "They're not nice guys, you know..."</p><p>"And you are?" </p><p>Steve pouts and hesitates a few seconds. "I guess not." He admits.</p><p>The omega looks at him with some sort of sadness in his eyes and falls back on the ground, squirming. He's lost his lucidity for a short moment. His scent messes with Steve's brain again and his body reacts to it instantly, his darkest instincts too. He wants to fuck the omega until he makes him bleed and pass out. </p><p>Tony comes back to himself quickly however and mutters hoarsely. "Rape... Whether gentle or rough, is still <em>rape.</em> I don't want you anywhere near me now."</p><p>Steve snaps out of it and steps back again, his heart in pieces. He looks at him again, wondering why fifteen years later this man still hurt him that much. Is he doing it on purpose? He looks away, down at the ground, and his voice shivers, somehow, when he asks. "Why do you hate me so much?"</p><p>The omega's breathing hitches and he tries to sit up against the rocks on the wall again, hissing painfully. Something indecipherable seems to be pooling in his eyes as he stares at him silently, a moment suspended in the air. "I don't hate you, Steve." Tony finally replies with a tired, though resolute, voice. "I've never hated you."</p><p>The words, perhaps meant to appease him, only ignites his wrath even more. Steve's furor shrouds his brain with foggy thoughts, or maybe it's an incomprehensible agony he feels in his heart. He realizes he's only been projecting himself and his own lingering feelings and inappropriate wishes.</p><p>He feels the rage burn his cheeks.</p><p>"I have..." He blurts croakily. "I've <em>hated</em> you... so much. And I still do. I hate your fucking guts. Every time I look at myself in a mirror, I <em>hate</em> your guts."</p><p>Tony burst out laughing and it sounds ugly, bitter and sarcastic. </p><p>"Oh, is that what we're doing, right now? You're blaming me for your shitty life choices?" </p><p>The nonchalance and despise in his laugh just riles Steve up to the point he feels his hands shake and a tremor in his jaw that he suppresses by gritting his teeth.</p><p>"I'm not responsible for your miserable life." Tony adds dejectedly. "And you're not responsible for my mine, either."</p><p>Such a mouth on him, that stupid omega. He's surprised that they haven't done much of a job on him already. They're not usually very lenient with unruly omegas in that part of the world. It's a miracle he still has all his limbs after two months as their captive. It's a miracle that he's still alive. They must have wanted something from him. Has he been giving it to them? Or had he struggled teeth and nails like he's been doing since Steve came inside that cave?</p><p>Steve suddenly remembers that it was what the cheeky, bold and proud part of him he had fallen in love with in high school. Now he hates it. He feels restless and whimsically heads for the cage's lock. He picks it easily and opens it to get inside. He doesn't really know why he did that, part of him thinks he only intended to uncuff the omega but now he finds himself staring down at him while the man grows restless at his feet and starts squirming again, partly horny as fuck and expectant, partly terrified.</p><p>Steve grows harder at the sight, equally aroused by the spiking scent of him and the fear in his eyes. What is wrong with him?</p><p>Tony shivers and parts his lips, eyes hazy again. The proximity with Steve becomes unbearable for him and he starts whimpering plaintively, hard and burning, sweating like he is running a marathon. Steve knows he shouldn't do this in front of the omega, because if he opens his mouth after this it's gonna be a problem but he finds he doesn't care at all at the moment. He needs it. So he snorts coke again and then he takes another cigarette, lights it and crouches down next to him, staring into his eyes and blowing the smoke on his face. The omega blinks as the smoke burns his eyes and looks away. He doesn't open his mouth however. </p><p>Steve studies him a moment. His eyes travel on his face, scrutinizing, until the omega feels self-conscious about it but he's too out of it to protest by now. Steve crawls even closer and brushes his knuckles down his cheek. The omega shudders and lets out a gasp. Steve wonders how come his beard comes out as a light stubble when his hair clearly looks like it's been abandoned for months. Must be an hormonal thing, he thinks. The look in the omega's eyes is somehow supplicant. It touches Steve's protective instincts and he takes his hand away but keeps staring into his eyes while he checks in with his teams. The omega lets out a shuddering breath and represses a moan.</p><p>"Beta. Report."</p><p>"We've been carrying the hostages out through the northern exit. Had to put them to sleep. Takes time but we're good so far.</p><p>"All right. Keep going. When you're done doing that you stay out and watch over them. Wait for my signal to contact Officer Kane so they can bring over the Marauder."</p><p>"Yes, Cap."</p><p>The omega whines again, his eyes glimmer lewdly. He shivers and wriggles but doesn't say a word when Steve brushes his hand down his cheek again, trying to soothe him somehow.</p><p>"Delta. Report."</p><p>"We're almost done, Cap."</p><p>"Good. When you are contact Beta and help them with retrieving the hostages. Make sure you wired all this shit up correctly before though."</p><p>"Okay, Cap."</p><p>Steve keeps fondling the omega's cheeks who leans into it this time. He shivers and gets even hotter and wetter in response. The room gets filled again with the delicious smell of arousal. He's gritting his teeth however, because of the pain of it all.</p><p>"Alpha. Report." Steve says in a weary sigh. His brain is fuzzy with lust and doped euphoria.</p><p>"Trying to find a safe way to the northern exit. It's gonna take us some more time, Cap."</p><p>Steve hums. "Okay. I'll wait for your signal." Then he addresses the omega. "Looks like we're gonna spend some more time together, just the two of us."</p><p>The omega is himself again and flinches at Steve's touch. His eyes glow anxiously, a glimpse of sadness in them. Steve puts his hand on his knee and stares at him reassuringly, at least he is trying to be but maybe the omega disagrees with that, seeing the way he parts his lips and lets out a scared gasp.</p><p>"Dont worry," Steve says, or rather slurs, voice pervaded with lust and lingering anger. "We'll get you out of here safely. You can trust me." Although the omega doesn't seem to be trusting him at all, right now.</p><p>To be honest, Steve can't really blame him, especially when his hand is currently sliding along the inside of his thigh. His pants are damp down his knees by the way, which has Steve losing his mind for a while. He's pretty sure he's been leaking himself. </p><p>He blows another puff of smoke on his face and glares scrutinizes him while his hands slides up to his crotch. The omega's eyes flutter shut and he gasps, shivering all over. His hips buck up, instinctively seeking more of his touch.</p><p>"How many alphas have you been with since we were together?" Steve rasps.</p><p>Tony throws his head back and sniggers scornfully before staring back at him with a hateful expression. "Why do you care?" He croaks out painfully, the laugh and despise still pregnant in his voice. </p><p>Steve startles and frowns. "I don't." He answers with a cold smirk. "I'm just curious. You've never dated one publicly and I know for a fact what a knot-hungry slut you are, so I was just wondering..."</p><p>Tony closes his mouth and averts his eyes ruefully. </p><p>"You wanna know how many omegas I've been with since you?" Steve asks while taking a drag. He doesn't wait for Tony's reaction because he looks out of it, body still burning up and shivering under Steve's light touch. "None." He answers in a puff of smoke. "I'm <em>queer."</em> He adds. "I fuck alphas..." He sucks in another drag. "In fact," he starts while keeping the smoke in his lungs, "me and Rumlow, the alpha you wanted to rape you earlier, are fucking each other." </p><p>Tony's wanton eyes flicker to him and he looks at him sidelong, hazy with lust and an indifferent pout on his lips. He snickers and his smile is scornful. "I don't give a shit." He slurs while shaking his head slowly.</p><p>Steve feels the rage boil at the pit of his stomach and spread like fire through his veins. His hand trembles and he lets go of the omega's thigh to grab his neck, pressing hard until he chokes and loosening it to let him breathe. His body tenses and relaxes, shuddering all over. Steve grabs the hem of his shirt with the hand holding the cigarette and yanks, tearing it open as the last of his buttons pop off in a cracking noise.</p><p>The omega gasps and starts breathing heavily, faster and faster, as a strong whiff of lust and wariness alike comes out of him. He pinches his lips to repress a moan, or maybe to smother the tremor in his jaw. He swallows as Steve glares into his eyes and gasps when Steve's grip on his throat is loose enough to let him breathe.</p><p>Steve's eyes don't linger on his face though, he quickly dismisses the hurtful indifference in his eyes to focus on his chest. His eyes rake over the jerky movements of it. It is hairy, he notices, at least more than it was when Steve used to bury his face in the soft olive skin of it, and flecked with moles and sunspots Steve had never seen before. It's also toned and firm, though slender and Steve runs a thumb on the lines of his abs, making the omega shiver. He would have thought Tony would be softer, maybe a little chubby, but he's surprisingly in good shape despite his age and life style. Steve wonders if he works out when he's not handcuffed and underfed in a cave in the middle of the Afghan desert. </p><p>The omega's breathing hitches at each of Steve's touch and he keeps dripping slick, skin burning up despite the cold dampness of the cave. Steve's eyes travel up to his shoulders and make a halt on his throbbing bonding gland. It's red and swollen and calling for him and Steve feels a surge of rage at the sight of it, remembering once again how it should have been his. He's shaken with the urge to claim. </p><p>He presses his right thumb on it and the omega's eyes roll back and his whole body tenses as he hisses in pain. He starts panting heavily and swallows in in fear but his body is limp and offered, shaken with spasms of desire and flushes of slick. </p><p>"Please, Steve..." He begs and the sounds of desperation in his voice is absolutely heart-wrenching. He almost weeping when Steve's looks up at him, eyes pleading and terrified. "Please, don't do this." His voice is shivering when he breathes out. Real tears start dripping down his cheeks. "I'll hate you for the rest of my life if you do this." He adds, voice pervaded with rage and a tinge of hatred.</p><p>As if Steve cared... He feels a pang in his chest. Maybe he does after all, a little. He snaps out of it and stares into the omega's eyes. "I was just gonna uncuff you." He whispers huskily because he was, he thinks. His mind is too foggy with sheer lust right now to be sure.</p><p>What the fuck is wrong with him?</p><p>He really intended to go for the handcuffs that still tie his hands behind his back but he gets distracted again and instead he splays his fingers on the hot and sweaty skin of his chest and the omega's stomach spasms again, in want. He strokes his hand down and settles it on his lower belly, taking possession of the omega's body, of his wombs where he feels the sudden urgent need to plant his seeds.</p><p>"I thought you were different." The omega croaks in a raspy, faltering voice, sniffling in between words. "But you're just like the others..."</p><p>Steve ignores the pang in his chest and looks up into his eyes again. "Oh no, I'm different." He says as a grin spreads on his lips. "I'm worse than any them."</p><p>The omega swallows and Steve's eyes flicker to his bonding gland again, as if inexorably drawn to it. He brings the butt of his burning cigarette to it and the omega gasps and shivers. </p><p>"What do think will happen if I press it to your gland? Do you think you'll still be able to bond? He brings the burning end closer to the skin and knows it's starting to burn even though he hasn't touch it yet. It's kind of exhilarating and Steve wonders if he always had a sadistic streak in him or if it's only with Tony that he feels this high in satisfying pleasure when torturing him. He has had to torture people before, once or twice. He doesn't remember enjoying it, quite the contrary in fact. He still has nightmares about it sometimes.</p><p>The omega turns his head to him and looks resigned. "It turns you on, doesn't it?" He says with an indifferent expression, tone slightly provocative. "Having me there, at your mercy."</p><p>Steve startles and stares into his eyes questioningly. </p><p>"You must feel so powerful like that, tormenting a tied-up omega who's in heat. You feel strong, don't you? Must be thrilling for a bullied skinny kid like you, having all that power over me."</p><p>Shit... Steve doesn't want to. He thought he was past that but the words affect him more than either of them would think. Tony knows all his weak points. He knows about his deepest fears, about all his traumas. He fucking <em>knows</em> where to hit and Steve hates him for it.</p><p>His hand moves on its own—he surprises himself—and lands flat on the omega's face which yanks on the other side. "Shut the fuck up, bitch!"</p><p>The omega turns his face back, blood drips down from his nose. He laughs. It sounds drunken and ugly, provocative. He looks at him smugly even though he's still dripping with sweat and shivering with want. "Did it feel good?" He asks, voice even huskier than before, almost a raspy whisper.</p><p>Steve slaps him on the other cheek and it smacks loudly on the skin as he does so. This time the omega spits blood but when he looks back, defiantly, his eyes burn with rage. "Do it!" He challenges with a smile. "Do it. Burn it!"</p><p>Steve's vision blurs and he feels a shudder of rage shake his entire body. He doesn't press his cigarette on the omega, though. He doesn't reply to his provocation. Instead, he smashes it on the damp rock behind him and throws it away but his other hand grabs his neck with strength and the omega lets out a strangled wheeze as he presses his neck against the rocks. His eyes roll at the back of his head for a short moment before they settle on Steve again, hazy and freed from the provocative rage.</p><p>Steve's fiery rage turns into cold-hearted hatred. He settles his the beating of his heart and turns his feelings off. "I know what you're doing..." He rasps coldly. "You're trying to distract me from fucking you. But let me tell you this, omega, I'll fuck you if I want to and there's nothing you can do to prevent it." He pauses, scrutinizing the omega's reaction. When he gets only bewilderment he presses harder on the neck, drawing hissing noises of pain out of him, and he pushes down on him to make him glide into a lying position, then he straddles his shaky legs.</p><p>"You think you know all about me?" He asks as the omega wriggles, struggling to find a comfortable position with his hands tied up behind his back and his back pressed on the ground, bent against the rocks. "But guess what, I know all about too, so you can drop the act, now. Maybe it worked with other alphas, maybe you even managed to unsettle some of them but I know you, Tony Stark. You think you're a big shot out there, but here you're <em>nothing. </em>You're just a bitch and the words of a bitch have no fucking value in here. You think you're gonna survive this? But guess what? Whether you get out of here alive or not is entirely up to me, you think we were asked to save you but you don't know shit about our mission orders and whether you get out of here unarmed is also entirely up to me. One word from me, Tony Stark, just <em>one</em> word and you'll be fucking gang-banged by all the alphas around here until you die of exhaustion. And you might think that because I fucked you years ago, I'll be lenient with you but that's where you're fucking wrong again, bitch. Because I'll be there to watch it until you huff out your last breath and I'll make sure you suffer through it, for hours before that happens. So, don't play tough with me."</p><p>The omega wheezes under him. "You don't mean that." He says confidently, although genuine tears flows down his cheeks. </p><p>Steve burst out laughing and glares at him heinously, feeling weirdly satisfied of the way he broke the omega.</p><p>"I don't believe you." The omega says. This time he sounds insecure however and his voice is shivering, faltering at the end.</p><p>Steve sits up and drops his neck. He stares at him for a moment, scrutinizing. The omega stares back, silently pleading. Steve gets up and steps back, looking down at his feet, at the mess he's made of the omega. He's still burning and shivering with want and the sight is pathetic. It's almost painful.</p><p>"Why did you leave?" He finally asks, voice unwillingly sounding hurt and turns away from the omega because he doesn't want him to see the tears that are prickling in his eyes.</p><p>Tony sniffles and he breathes out a shivering sigh. "My parents <em>died,</em> Steve."</p><p>"And suddenly I wasn't good enough for you?" Steve asks, turning his back to him, each words scorching his throat as he does so. </p><p>"What are you talking about?"</p><p>"This!" He snaps while he swirls around. <em>"This!" </em>He repeats angrily and then he adds, in a plaintive whisper. "I would have been there for you."</p><p>Tony's voice sounds as hurt as Steve's when he answers. "Happy just came by at the lab to pick me up and I just had the time to text you before I was thrown into a plane to New York." </p><p>Steve lets out a mirthless chuckle and puts his hands on his lips. "Yeah... I remember: <em>'I've had to leave. I'll call you.'</em> And then fucking nothing. I've learned<em> on the news</em> why boyfriend had to leave suddenly, leaving no trace. You didn't answer my texts, you didn't answer my calls."</p><p>He hears the omega's breathing hitch and accelerate behind him. He snivels when he speaks and his voice is shivering, broken at the edges.</p><p>"There was a whole PR team team that monitored my phone and answered all the messages I received for an entire week. And I was thrown away into a whirlwind of paperwork, appointments with the funeral parlor, meetings with the notary, with the lawyers, with the police, with the board of directors... I didn't even have time to <em>pee. </em>I needed you, Steve. And all the support I got from you was your nice break-up note, along with all my stuff, telling me that you're done and I shall never try to contact you again. You even sent back the furniture we bought together. You <em>changed</em> the <em>locks. </em>When I got back to Boston to pick my stuff at MIT, I couldn't even get into my own apartment." He stops, heavily panting and trying to catch his breath. He snivels some more. "You didn't even give me <em>three fucking days</em>." He adds in a faltering whisper. </p><p>Something cracks up in Steve's mind. "I came home that night," he says slowly as he realizes what happened. "From work, with dinner for both of us. And the flat was empty. You'd barely left me the bed so I didn't have to sleep on the floor. I looked at my phone and all I got from you was a fucking text. And no fucking explanation."</p><p>The omega swallows and he can hear him weep silently. His scent turns sour but he still smells horny as fuck and the combination doesn't go well together. It's overpowering and unstoppable. </p><p>Steve laughs, he thinks, but it sounds hysterical, like an ugly, strangled sob. How fucking ironic! His whole life is a fucking joke!</p><p>Suddenly fifteen years worth of emotions come back to him and he's starting spasming as a shudder runs throughout his body, burning and icy at the same time. He can't breathe anymore and he blinks trying to fucking <em>see</em> again but everything around him turns blurry and starts moving and swirling around him. He wavers on his feet and he can feel his cock harden to the point of release, escaping his control, or rather <em>taking</em> control. He can feel his lips tense as he bares his teeth and growls in pain, despite himself. He's going feral and uncontrollable. His hackles raise and he tries to feel his hands but he can't anymore. He's slowly but surely losing all his self-control and drops on his knees, falling into the darkness, to the point of no return.</p><p>He breaks down. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So decided to divide the chapter in three parts in the end... Damn, I struggled with this one, I kept forgetting about it and reimagining it. I feel like I already wrote this before but... Anyway, sorry about that. I'll try to do better for the next one.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Full on Dark Rogers - part 2</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*gets better toward the end...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He blacked out.</p>
<p>He doesn't know how long, he doesn't remember when. He doesn't even remember where he was and what he was doing when he did. </p>
<p>He just knows he blacked out and that now he's conscious again. His brain is awake, at least. His body, though, feels like it's moving on its own. He doesn't even feel it at first. He's only a mind and a conscience. </p>
<p>It's the stench that woke him up. The horrid smell of panic and distress, mingled with the sickly-sweet scent of omega's heat. The mixture is not an odor he's ever had the pleasure to smell before, he didn't even know that was a thing but the second he smelt it he knew and it stirred him awake.</p>
<p>Slowly his eyes take in the environment around him. He can see a cave. It's damp and moist, weirdly hot for the scenery, and it smells awful, rotten and moldy and the pervading scent of heat everywhere around him. It makes him feel nauseous although things are still very fuzzy in his head.</p>
<p>Little by little, he recovers the touch and feel of his limbs. He realizes that he is touching someone's body. At least, there seem to be a warm body between his hands. His fingers are gripping hips, strongly holding them down, anchoring their owner into the cold, sandy ground of the cave. He feels a tremor in his hands and panic arises in his chest.</p>
<p>He blinks a few times and can finally distinguish the shape of that body. After the panic, it's horror that strikes him down. Because there he is, holding Tony's hips down and the omega, the love of his life, is shaking from head to toe, paralyzed in shock. His face, pressed onto the ground, is white-pale, shivering too, and his eyes are wide open, fixed like they are dead. </p>
<p>Steve is not only sinking his fingers into the warm and soft skin of the omega's hips, he is also buried deep inside of him. </p>
<p>They're <em>knotted.</em></p>
<p>And suddenly Steve can feel every inch of his body pressed deep against the man. He can feel the amazing, so meaningful sensation of being knotted with someone. He can smell the strong and intense arousal of an omega in heat. He can feel the heat of the man's body all around him. He can feel the pleasure and the ecstasy of it, every particle of him igniting, overexcited. He can feel how hard he is and how deep he's buried and how his own hips are jerking forward slowly. And he remembers everything that happened before he blacked out.</p>
<p>Everything. </p>
<p>And everything clicks in his head. A cold and deep shudder runs down his spine. He can feel an uncontrollable tremor in his entire body. His hands tremble as he loosens his grip on the omega's hips. Tears are flowing down his cheeks. There is a lump growing in his throat and choking him. He can't breath anymore and a sharp, intense pain is stabbing his heart and crushing his ribcage. A thick dark smoke fogs his brain. He retches, all his limbs trembling and unmovable.</p>
<p>"Captain, are you there? Captain?"</p>
<p>Rumlow's voice shakes him out of it. How long has he been trying to reach him? Steve manages to fumble with the answering key on his comms device and mutters a low, shivering "here" while trying to pull away from the horrific situation he threw himself into. He's stuck. </p>
<p>"We're coming down to you, cap. Cleared the path. Let's get the hell outta here."</p>
<p>He doesn't have time to reply before the communication ends. He looks at his trembling hands. He looks at the omega's naked hips, at his shredded clothes, at the bites on his shoulders. He smothers an ugly sob and retches again. Tears keep flowing down his cheeks and his vision is starting to blur. The omega is still in a state of shock, paralyzed, eyes fixed and staring into space. He's still shaking.</p>
<p>Steve panics. </p>
<p>His senses are going haywire and his heart is racing, threatening to fail him. He can't breathe anymore and at the same time he wants to throw up. He can feel the asthma attack coming and does the stupidest thing he's ever done in his entire life. The stupidest, the cruelest, the most horrible thing he could ever do in that moment, only he realized that when it was too late.</p>
<p>He brings a shaky hand to the omega's mouth and nose and presses hard, then he forces himself out of the knot and brutally pulls out while still inflated and hard.</p>
<p>The pain is excruciating.</p>
<p>It's not only physical. It's emotional and almost mystical. Being knotted is much more than a knot buried deep in an ass, Steve realizes, much too late unfortunately, because right now he feels like a part of his soul—the little that was left of it, anyway—is being ripped off his own body.</p>
<p>He feels like he's being taken apart, like his dick is torn off and his knot in shreds but it's nothing compared to what the omega is feeling. He can smell it. Tony shrieks, <em>howls,</em> and his screams, though muffled by Steve's hand, sound horrifying. Steve feels like the worst but in his panic and distraught, his brainless mind didn't know what else to do. Tony obviously didn't want him inside of him but now that he is, neither of them has other choices than accept it and bear with it but Steve still tried to break the unbreakable and when his knot comes out, wrecking the omega's insides in the process, there's a glut of blood that gushes out of him.</p>
<p>The omega gasps a painful whimper and falls on the ground, unmoving, eyes still wide open, body still shivering. Steve falls apart and wobbles backwards to the other side of the cave until his back hits the rocky walls and he glides down on the ground, hands shaking, eyes blurry with tears, his body burning hot and freezing cold at the same time. He starts wheezing and mechanically takes his emergency inhaler before passing out. It's the first time he uses it ever since he enrolled. The drugs makes his head spin, or maybe he's just having a bad trip, who knows...</p>
<p>The wooden door is being slammed open and the alpha and the beta rush inside. </p>
<p>"What the f—" He hears the alpha say before the horrid stench attacks his nostrils and like being punched on the face the alpha stumbles and swirls around to vomit under the perplexed stare of the beta.</p>
<p>"What the fuck did you do, Steve?" The alpha growls angrily. </p>
<p>Steve has absolutely no explanation whatsoever. He keeps weeping silently, unable to control his body anymore, unable to move. His hands are still shaking.</p>
<p>"Damnit." The beta exclaims with a tinge of amusement in his voice. "You people are <em>wild!"</em> He seems to be staring dubiously at the omega, or what's left of him anyway. He's still alive though and still conscious, Steve can feel his presence in the room as if he was still inside of him. </p>
<p>"Go and check on him, Jack." The alpha commands. "Is he still alive?"</p>
<p>The beta walks over to the cage and squats next to the omega, checking his vitals. Steve hears a growl coming out of his own throat. His instincts urge him to run there and possibly slay him, his body can't move an inch though.</p>
<p>"Barely..." The beta says. "Looks like he's been gang-banged by a pack of werewolves but he's still breathing. Damnit Rogers! Did <em>you</em> do this? What the fuck! Did you punch him down there or what?" The omega whines painfully. "Shit man! I don't know what kind of sex you guys are into usually but seriously, this is fucked-up..."</p>
<p>Steve feels a shiver throughout his spine. He's overwhelmed by a sob and drops his head in his hands as he feels his chest shake with it.</p>
<p>The alpha's scent grows worried. His voice shivers when he asks. "Was he bitten?"</p>
<p>"Kinda everywhere, yeah, but he's still unbonded if that's your question." The beta answers indifferently. </p>
<p>Suddenly the alpha is all over him. He crouches down next to him and puts a gentle hand on his knee. His eyes are genuinely concerned when he stares into Steve's blurry ones. "Steve..." He says gently. "What happened to you?" </p>
<p>Steve has no answer.</p>
<p>"Come on, man." The alpha insists. He still sounds concerned and his voice, though slightly angry at the edges, is still gentle. He stares at him questioningly, Steve wishes he would remove his hands from his knees. "Are you fucking <em>high?"</em> He asks.</p>
<p>Steve possibly whines, or sobs, he's not sure. He is staring into space, he thinks, and can still feel tears flowing down his cheeks. "Come on Rogers, pull yourself together. You need to get us out of this shit." </p>
<p>Steve is shaken with another sob and the alpha's eyes are almost sad. He cups Steve's face in his hands gently and tries to reason with him. "Steve, come on." He encourages and then observes him worriedly. "Are you still rutting?"</p>
<p>Steve grabs his wrists and growls in response. He can sense the aggressiveness grow in his own scent. This time the alpha is done being gentle and concerned. His nose flares, his eyes flickers with anger, he bares his teeth out and stands up, wiping his face exasperatedly. "Fuck!" He blurts out and drops his head in his hand. He wipes his mouth reflectively. "Shit man!" He exclaims, addressing Steve again. He is glaring at him now. "I told you you'd fuck up, Rogers! What do we do now, huh? We can't get him out of here in this state!"</p>
<p>Steve has no answer. He tries to stare back at him but his eyes seem to wander on their own. </p>
<p>"Fuck, no." The alpha exclaims. "I'm done. I'm taking over." He declares and throws one last glance at Steve, one that seems half-exasperated, half-concerned. Maybe a little sad too. "Beta, Delta, do you copy?" Steve hears him say through his comms. "Captain's out, I'm taking over. You answer to me from now on."</p>
<p>"Copied, commander." The two teams answer immediately. "What's wrong with Cap?" Agent Diaz asks, sounding mildly concerned. </p>
<p>The alpha spares Steve an annoyed glance and replies with a worried sigh. "Don't know... but he can't do anything useful in his current state. We're gonna head north soon, what's your status?"</p>
<p>"We've safely taken the hostages out, waiting for order, commander."</p>
<p>"Good. Delta? What's your status?"</p>
<p>"We're done checking the wires. Heading north, commander."</p>
<p>"Right. Beta, Delta. Stay safely outside the northern entrance and wait for my signal. Contact officer Kane so he can bring the Marauder."</p>
<p>"Copied, commander. Be safe."</p>
<p>"Always." The alpha answers in a soft smile and then his expression hardens when he looks at Tony. The omega seems to be staring back at him, apathetically. He stopped shivering, despite the damp cold of the cave and his nakedness. </p>
<p>Rumlow clings both hands to his hips and stares at him dubiously. "We can't take him out with us." He decides matter-of-factly. The beta nods in agreement.  "It's too risky, especially if Rogers can't even walk."</p>
<p>"Didn't Fury say we need to bring him back alive at all costs?"</p>
<p>"Pierce said we just need to shut him up."</p>
<p>The beta nods again, knowingly, although unconvinced. He was also recruited by Hydra. He knows. "This is gonna look bad, though." He comments casually. Rollins has little qualms. He's a good agent, obedient, efficient. He never questions orders. He's a perfect Hydra recruit. Steve was the one who suggested him.</p>
<p>"I'm not risking any of the STRIKE agents' lives for an omega who knows too much." The alpha retorts. Steve's practical mind can only agree with that but the rest of him shudders with rage and aggressive alpha hormones. He can feel his body heat up and opens his eyes wide. He can see clearly now that the tears have stopped running. There's a tingling sensation at the tips of his fingers, meaning he can probably move again although he feels drained from any strength. "Snap his neck, Jack. And let's be done with it."</p>
<p>Rollins hesitates. "Yeah, but that's not just an omega. That's Tony fucking Stark, man."</p>
<p>"And what do you think will happen when Tony fucking Stark tells the whole world that the team that rescued him also treated him like the bitch of a pack of werewolves?"</p>
<p>The beta looks unconvinced for a moment, still skeptical, but finally gives an approving nod. "Yeah. You're right. Let's snap the fucking bitch's neck." Meanwhile, Steve's heart starts racing. He can feel the rage roiling inside of him.</p>
<p>"Do you really think that werewolves only have one bitch for an entire pack?" The beta asks nonchalantly as he steps closer to Tony. Steve's blood boils. </p>
<p>"And how the fuck am I supposed to know? Do I look like someone who'd be interested in <em>werewolves?</em> <em>You're</em> the geek! Just kill the bitch, alright, and let's scram! I can't stand this cave anymore. It fucking <em>reeks,</em> man!"</p>
<p>Rollins shrugs and makes another step toward the cage. </p>
<p>"Stay the fuck away from the omega, Rollins!" </p>
<p>The words come out of his mouth before he realizes he's the one who uttered them. His voice is hoarse and broken and sounds more like a growl than words. They are assertive enough for the beta to stop in his tracks however and both men jerk their head in his direction and stare at him confusedly.</p>
<p>Something touching flashes across the alpha's eyes before he glares annoyingly at Steve, something like relief and hopeful excitement. The beta's eyes flicker from him to the alpha, wondering whose order he's supposed to follow now. Something guys like him—the ones that are good underlings but cannot take initiatives—find very unsettling. It forces them to make decisions. </p>
<p>"Steve?" The alpha mutters tentatively. He opens and closes his mouth as if he is gonna add something else but remains silent.</p>
<p>"The omega lives." Steve repeats, in case it wasn't clear the first time.</p>
<p>"Are you fucking <em>serious</em> right now?" The alpha retorts. "You can't even sit up, man! And you want us to take the bitch out in that state? This is gonna end in a disaster and you're putting us all in danger. And I'm not even talking about what's gonna happen when it opens its mouth!"</p>
<p>"That's my fucking problem. Not yours. Your problem is following my orders, 'cause as far as I know, I'm still your fucking captain and the one in charge of this fucking operation. So you shut your pretty mouth and do what I tell you to do and what I'm telling you to do is getting the fucking bitch out of here alive."</p>
<p>There is another touching expression on the alpha's face and something forlorn pools in his eyes before they flare with anger. He stares at him bewilderedly, a moment suspended in the air. Steve suddenly remembers that he came in his mouth just a few hours ago. This is why you should never mix work and <strike>feelings</strike> <em>sex.</em></p>
<p>"Fuck no!" He finally decides and his decision sounds like it's been tainted with hatred and disappointment. "I'm not risking my team. I'm not falling with you, Rogers. I would have done a lot for you...but I'm not falling with you. <em>You</em> fucking did this!" He spats and pulls out his gun. "The bitch dies." He says as he points his gun in Tony's direction. </p>
<p>The omega looks back at him silently, indifferent, resigned. Perhaps he wants to die too... Steve wouldn't blame him.</p>
<p>But he can't let that happen. He'll be sorry later.</p>
<p>The alpha pulls the trigger.</p>
<p>There are two gunshots.</p>
<p>The omega gasps and lets out a painful whimper. The alpha looks at Steve with glassy eyes and a look of incomprehension on his face. His hand goes to his neck before he sputters blood.</p>
<p>Steve was faster. </p>
<p>That's the thing, Steve is faster. He's better. He's smarter. There is a reason why he's the one in charge of the whole fucking thing and not Rumlow, or some other guy. He's <em>good.</em> People tend to underestimate him, because he's small and unthreatening, and that's exactly why he's good.</p>
<p>The alpha drops his gun on the ground and collapses. There is a little twinge in Steve's heart at the sight of it but he doesn't dwell on it, his eyes meet the beta's stunned ones. The beta is a good agent but his decision process is slow, too slow for Steve. Even coked up, rutting and broken down Steve. Or perhaps especially for coked up, rutting and broken down Steve, who knows?</p>
<p>He points his gun down at him but Steve already leapt up on his feet and is running to him. Rollins is a full head taller than Steve, possibly more. He's a fucking rock, all in muscles, but then again, Steve is good and a master martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant. Too bad even his own subordinates seem to forget about it. </p>
<p>He uses the element of surprise.</p>
<p>Rollins struggles and flails around, throwing his heavy limbs in the air, rolling around on his feet, jerking his head on each side, trying to see where Steve is. He points his gun in the air threateningly and pulls it on every direction. He panics whereas Steve has never been so clear-headed and cold-blooded in his entire life. And soon Steve is just behind him, his knife on his throat. The blade sinks in the skin easily. It's a quick and efficient job that Steve performs without any scruples or hesitation, until he can hear the omega's terrified gasps next to him. Rollins's cumbersome shape slumps down on the ground in slow motion, not a noise is emitted from his mouth but a strangled wheeze. He dies in a matter of second while Steve guides him in his fall, cushioning with his hands.</p>
<p>Steve never really bothered with guilt. He has had to kill people, as part of his job, and that was it. He had never hesitated, acted on instincts. He had always had a strong and reliable instinct of self-preservation. He had never thought about how it would affect him, as a person, had never cared about what it meant until he saw what he did mirrored in the omega's eyes.</p>
<p>For a second he feels like a monster but his protective alpha instincts soon take over and he's back to being the cold-blooded, efficient soldier he's always been.</p>
<p>"Commander? Do you copy? We heard gunshots through the comms. We're heading south. Is everything alright? Are you there, commander?"</p>
<p>Steve interrupts the conversation immediately. "Stay in position, Keller!"</p>
<p>"Is that you, Captain? I thought you—"</p>
<p>"I'm fine. Stay in position. Keep the hostages safe. I'm taking care of the omega."</p>
<p>"But I heard—the commander said—we're already inside... Is everything alright?"</p>
<p>"Go back to your position, Beta, and keep the hostages safe. I'm joining you as soon as I can. In the meantime, your priority is the safety of the hostages."</p>
<p>"I can't reach the commander." Keller mentions, voice pervaded with worry.</p>
<p>Steve swallows. Suddenly, he remembers what he's done and feels a twinge in his heart. He hesitates and finally answers, smothering an unexpected sob. "Officer Rumlow and Agent Rollins are down, Keller."</p>
<p>He's met with silence on the other end and then a panicking voice speaks. <em>"What?" </em>Keller exclaims, his voice is shivering. "H—How? What happened?"</p>
<p>"Shit happened." Steve replies bluntly. "But the hostage is alive. The mission is still on. Go back outside the northern entrance and wait for the Marauder. I'll bring the omega over."</p>
<p>He's met with resigned silence again. "Copied, Captain." Keller said and when he checks his GPS, Steve can see that the beta team is heading north again and lets out a sigh of relief and wipes his sweaty forehead with his hand. If he could avoid killing another two members of his own team to protect Tony, he'd rather. </p>
<p>When the conversation ends, Steve stands still for a few moment, shaken by the aftermath of what he's just done. He has killed people he had sex with before but never someone he had planned a date with just hours ago. Does Captain Steve Rogers have a heart after all?</p>
<p>The alpha is still alive though, Steve can hear him gurgle and choke on his own blood. He's gonna die anyway, agonizing like this for another dozens of minutes maybe, so Steve doesn't know why he feels the need to put an end to his suffering instead of checking on the omega, maybe he needs closure. Or maybe he just likes a job well done, who knows? But he rushes to crouch next to lying form of the man and feel tears prickle at the corner of his eyes. </p>
<p>He runs his knuckles down the alpha's cheek. Their eyes meet for a split second before the alpha's turn hazy. Steve kneels over him and bends down. "I'm so sorry, Brock. I never wanted this but you shouldn't have laid a finger on my omega." He whispers against his face, so close he can feel the weak warmth of his bloodied breath. "I would have loved going on a dinner date with you by the way." He adds and then he cups his neck and brings his head closer to kiss him one last time while his other hand presses his knife into his heart. Rumlow gives out his last breath into Steve's mouth. Steve feels a tear dripping down his cheek but ignores it. He lets the alpha's head fall back and lays him down carefully while licking the blood stains on his lips.</p>
<p>He <em>is</em> a monster.</p>
<p>He doesn't really have the time to dwell on the news however, there is a whimper behind him. Steve's heart races. <em>Tony... </em></p>
<p>The omega is alive but he was hit. Thankfully it's superficial, Steve's intervention deflected the shot, but the omega still has a bullet in his thigh and Steve needs to take it away and tend to the wound before he carries the omega out of here or it might get worse. That's what he does.</p>
<p>He kneels down next to the omega who flinches and gasps at first so Steve brings an appeasing hand to his face and caresses his temple soothingly. The gesture has the expected effect on the omega who relaxes instantly, the spicy sweet smell of heat flares in his scent. "Shhhhhush." Steve whispers gently while brushing his knuckles on the sweaty skin of the omega who whines softly as his thighs tremble with pain and desire alike. "I'll take care of you Tony, I promise. I'll take care of you and get you out of here. I'll bring you home."</p>
<p>Their eyes meet and lock into each other's for a short moment. A blissful, mystical moment before Tony's wander away, veiled with the haze of heat. He can't help it, Steve reckons. Alphas are biologically programmed to protect omegas. Omegas are programmed to find that hot and Steve is giving off a glut of protective pheromones right now. How sad is that?</p>
<p>"I'm so sorry, Tony." Steve whispers while fondling the omega's face. "I'm so sorry about everything. I'm sorry about what I've put you through and I'm sorry you had to witness that... You have to know that this is what an alpha is capable of doing to make sure their omega's safe. I <em>promise</em> you that I'll keep you safe, baby."</p>
<p>The omega shivers from head to toe and lets out a shuddering sigh.</p>
<p>Steve gives him a shot of morphine and one of antibiotics before he pulls out the bullet. He's no doctor but has sufficient knowledge to know Tony was lucky. He'll recover quickly from it even with Steve's basic medical skills. He tends to the wound quickly with what he could find in his first aid kit while Tony is mostly out of it. In the meantime, the morphine put the omega in heat frenzy and he's spacing out, completely dazed and unable to struggle anymore which was very useful when Steve had to clean his wound and stitch him up but now that he's been patched up and bandaged, it's become a problem. He'll never be able to walk, even hobble, in this state.</p>
<p>Steve will have to carry him all the way to the northern entrance. Not that he can't do it, Tony might have about fifty pounds on him he can still carry him on his back. This is just going to be harder to keep him safe, that's all.</p>
<p>He undresses one of the guards to put something decent on the omega's naked butt, shivering at the thought of Colonel Rhodes seeing him in the state he is in. Speaking of Colonel Rhodes, are he and Tony fucking? This might explain that... Steve internally growls and shakes himself out of it quickly. Inappropriate thought at an inappropriate time.</p>
<p>Steve sets up his his ten pounds of explosive all around the bodies of his teammates before he sets off, just in case.</p>
<p>"Captain? What are you doing? We're ready to go."</p>
<p>"Wait for me. I'll be there in thirty."</p>
<p>"We can't wait thirty minutes, cap. Not without risking the old man's life. He's in really bad shape."</p>
<p>"I don't care. The omega is priority. Wait for me."</p>
<p>"Okay. Try to hurry though."</p>
<p>It's kind of an ordeal to put a barely conscious and wounded omega in heat on his shoulders but Steve manages it in the end. On the upside, Tony's hormones push him to increase the contact between them and he curls his arms around his frail body, clutching him strongly and burying his head into his neck. On the downside, the constant poking of his hard-on on his lower back coupled with the indecent noise he's making as he hums and purrs into his neck makes Steve's legs wobble with want. He can feel the spicy-sweet scent go to his head and make it spin. Thankfully, the alpha team made a good job clearing the path for them.</p>
<p>"Captain? He's dying. We need to go now. How far away are you?"</p>
<p>"Another twenty minutes, Diaz." </p>
<p>"He doesn't have twenty minutes."</p>
<p>"Wait for me, anyway. The omega is wounded too. He's gonna need urgent medical care. Like I said, our primary mission is the omega."</p>
<p>"That's your call, captain."</p>
<p>Steve ends the conversation before feeling any remorse about choosing who gets to live or die and gets back to walking. Tony is heavy on his back but he keeps walking, following the safe path indicated on his GPS.</p>
<p>Tony stirs behind him. "Steve..." He mumbles softly in the crook of his neck, sending shivers down Steve's spine. "The old man..." Steve stops in his tracks and listens to the omega. "His name's Yinsen." Tony carries on, voice a warm and sweet whisper caressing softly the skin of his neck. "He has a family, a son waiting for him. No-one's waiting for me at home, Steve. Please..." He begs and the gentleness in his voice is excruciating. "Let him live."</p>
<p>All the determination he had in him leaves his body instantly. He wobbles and hesitates, unable to make another step and then he contacts Beta again. He is weak.</p>
<p>"Diaz? Take the hostages to the base." He says defeatedly. "We'll manage."</p>
<p>"Okay, Cap."</p>
<p>"Leave the detonator in the spot we decided on earlier. Call the base so they can send another vehicle to pick us up. Contact the general and put me through."</p>
<p>Steve keeps walking feeling suddenly uncertain about their future and realizing how much he doesn't care anymore. The prospect of dying here, with Tony in his arms, sounds almost comforting. </p>
<p>A few minutes later, Agent Diaz contacts them again. "We've left the detonator, Cap. Heading to base. The general is pissed."</p>
<p>"I bet he is." Steve answers with a smile. "Put me through."</p>
<p>"General?"</p>
<p>"You fucked up, Captain! You were supposed to not get in our way. You blew up an entire operation. What's your excuse?"</p>
<p>Steve feels a lump in his throat but ignores it. "Shit happens, General." He croaks. "I've got two men down."</p>
<p>He's met with silence. "You were supposed to take care of the omega and leave us the rest. What the fuck did you do?"</p>
<p>Steve feels his hackles raise. He grits his teeth in anger. Exhausted with the walk, he sighs. He doesn't have time for this. "We've retrieved all hostages safely. I need your permission to blow this shit up." He blurts out, cutting the conversation short.</p>
<p>The general seems to be thinking about it at the other end of the line. "If you do this we lose, months of work and crucial intel."</p>
<p>"I can't guarantee the omega's safety if we don't blow this shit up."</p>
<p>The general lets out an annoyed sigh. "Fine." He finally agrees. "But you'll have to answer to me for this shit, Captain. I want a full report on why you decided to ruin an entire operation and jeopardize your teammates's lives by not following orders."</p>
<p>"As you wish, General. Do I have your authorization?"</p>
<p>"Authorization granted, Captain." The general answers in an annoyed sigh.</p>
<p>Steve finds the northern exit without too much trouble on the way, nothing he couldn't handle anyway. Tony is still gripping his shoulders and presses his hot body against his back. He purrs and nuzzles into the nape of his neck. His boner is still poking at his lower back and Steve does his best not to press too hard on his legs while carrying him so he wouldn't hurt his wounded thigh. On the way out, the omega had periods of consciousness but mostly he was in a daze, overwhelmed by the heat that struck him in waves. He shivered at times or rutted against him. Sometimes, he whimpered softly or hummed against his neck, snuggling up against him. Steve kept walking, feeling the connection between them rekindling little by little until it felt like they were back fifty years ago. His hormones must be messing with his head.</p>
<p>Once outside, Steve easily finds the spot where the detonator was left, hidden carefully, and congratulated himself for this brilliant idea. He picks it up, squatting with the omega still clutching his back, and deeply regrets it hen he needs to stand up again. He manages but he is getting tired and he has to walk further away from the building to avoid the blast of the explosion before blowing it up.</p>
<p>The sun is rising when they set off. The colors are magnificent here as well, different from the day previous. They are shades of blues and purples, of soft pinks and magentas. You can still see the stars in the higher sky and the mountains behind them blaze with ocher rays of lights. When they're far enough, Steve presses the button and the whole shit blows up behind them, a huge fire of reds and maroons, orange and blue sparks are illuminating the sky, mingling with the stars and the moon. they're far enough to avoid the projectiles but not so they wouldn't feel the heat or hear the screams resonating in the empty desert.</p>
<p>Steve keeps walking forward, in the direction of the base.</p>
<p>It's warm and the path is getting sandier, harder to walk on but he keeps walking. He pants and sighs and wobbles on his legs. He needs to heave the sliding form of the omega several times. </p>
<p>"Steve..." The omega whimpers. "Just put me down and leave me here." He whispers, sounding tired and out of breath. "There's no point. I don't want to keep going. I don't want this life..."</p>
<p>Steve's heart breaks into pieces several times but he keeps going and the sun is getting warmer. "Until my last breath I'll carry you, Tony."</p>
<p>The omega tightens his grip around him and snuggles some more. It's almost romantic. It could have been like this, Steve thinks, if they had had the chance to get married and bonded. Maybe Steve would have carried Tony inside their home, or the roles would have been reversed probably.</p>
<p>Steve would kill half of the world just to see Tony's smile again, he thinks. The way he used to smile at him then. Perhaps he should stop killing people instead, he'd probably have better chances at seeing Tony smile if he does, considering.</p>
<p>He stumbles. He's exhausted, parched and maybe he needs another fix. He looks up and his vision blurs. His head is spinning. </p>
<p>It's a helicopter that picks them up and Colonel Rhodes is there in person to escort both of them to base. Steve throws the omega into his arms, or maybe the omega just throws himself at him. Steve is not sure anymore.</p>
<p>The beta gently cups his face and looks into the omega's hazy eyes. "Fuck, Tones..." He rumbles. The omega whines in response.</p>
<p>Steve feels a pang in his heart but ignores it and shuts his feelings out. "He's in heat." He just says impassively. "He'll be fine but he needs urgent medical care. He's been shot in the thigh." He adds. "and possibly raped."</p>
<p>A glimpse of horror crosses the beta's eyes but he quickly regains his composure and military stance. He holds the omega tight against him one last time before he releases him and lets the paramedics take care of him. He brings a strong hand to Steve's shoulder and pats him gratefully. "Thank you, Captain." He says solemnly. "Thank you for bringing him back."</p>
<p>The rest of the journey is quiet. Steve sits at the front. Tony is receiving medical treatment at the back. Colonel Rhodes watches over him. Steve lets out a long sigh and snorts something stronger than coke before falling asleep.</p>
<p>This was the last time he saw Tony Stark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so yeah... what can I say... The whole reason for this fic was this picture in my head, of tiny Steve carrying a tall and toned Tony on his back with the sunrise and the explosion in the background, saving his life.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> <strong>A year later</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>***</strong>
</p><p>Steve is lying down on the small bed, trying to forget how uncomfortable it is by throwing a stress-relief ball in the air and catching it back. He hears a soft knock on his door and knows it's Sharon, the nice blond nurse that always handle him with kid's gloves. "Mr Rogers?" She asks tentatively. She does that because he tends to be moody. The others have given up on him already.</p><p>He's currently sleeping in a rehab center, like he's been more or less doing since his last mission in Afghanistan. It's already his third stay. Now he's waiting for his trial, because yes, there was an investigation and there are too many black holes. Steve blew up an entire operation, a major military operation and came back from his mission minus two men and high on drugs. Let's just say that, it might not really have been his idea coming here in the first place. Steve feels like he hasn't been in charge of his own life ever since he came back from this shit. Like the last conscious decision he's actually made was when he threw the omega into the colonel's arms and even that he isn't sure it was his doing. Since then he's been tossed around from one place to another like an embarrassing burden that no-one wants to deal with. He sure is embarrassing for the military and they'd rather hide him away in rehab centers and vet homes than risk any of this shit coming out and stain anything.</p><p>Steve catches his ball and shouts an annoyed "come in." He is in one of his good days.</p><p>Sharon just ducks her head in the doorway and smiles. "You have a visitor."</p><p>A <em>visitor?</em></p><p>Steve hardly has any visitors. Sam is the only one who came regularly, but Sam is at work and he usually warns him beforehand. Bucky and Clint have their family and since Steve was recruited by Hydra, they have somehow grown apart, as if they knew. He hardly has any other people he can call friends, at least, who are enough of friends to pay him a visit.</p><p>He's still in the process of trying to figure out who that could be and freaking out a little, because if it wasn't Sam, or Bucky, or Clint, it could only be bad news, when the door slams open.</p><p>And there he is, standing in all his dignity in front of him, frowning down at him a little. He's wearing casual clothes and though Steve only met him once he recognize him instantly. One very stern Colonel James Rhodes of the US Air Force. </p><p>Steve is befuddled and parts his lips as he straightens in a jerk and sits up to meet his eyes. He nods and salutes him as a token of respect. "Colonel." Those old reflexes. The colonel nods back at him and stares down sternly, observing him from his righteous height. "Captain." He says in response.</p><p>Steve snorts mirthlessly. "I'm no longer a Captain."</p><p>The colonel shrugs. "You'll always be a Captain to me. You deserved your title. You acted with bravery and professionalism."</p><p>Steve averts his eyes to avoid his stare and feels a lump growing in his throat. "I'm a fraud." He just says.</p><p>Rhodes doesn't comment. He just swallows and nods at the empty chair next to the small desk/table at the corner of Steve's hundred square feet room, silently asking for permission. Steve grants it with a nod first and then decides that he should at least make the effort to speak when he sees hesitation in his eyes. "Make yourself at home."</p><p>The man sits down and reclines on the back of the chair, crossing his arms on his chest and observing Steve with a scrutinizing stare. The silence is heavy between them and Steve feels uncomfortable so he shifts on his bed and his eyes wander on the broad chest of the man. There is a ring on his left hand. Steve stares at it enviously and wonders. Tony Stark never once appeared in public in the past year. Officially, some guy named Obadiah Stane has been temporarily taking on the position of CEO at Stark Industries. Officially—because Tony's kidnapping has been made public by their own PR team—he is recovering from serious injuries and a long period of coma following that said kidnapping. Steve knows it's a pile of bullshit. Tony was only mildly injured the last time he saw him. Two weeks, three at the most, would have been enough.</p><p>Does that mean that Tony has finally settled down and organized this whole charade to keep some privacy during his happy honeymoon? Or maybe he just didn't want to lose face after years of rejecting the classic family image? Or maybe he just hasn't been able to recover from the trauma and is genuinely unable to fulfill his responsibilities... A shiver of guilt runs down his spine. </p><p>Colone Rhodes snorts amusedly. "You're very observant, Captain." He says with a certain fondness in his voice. "Carol." He adds and Steve looks up into his eyes only to see the blissful glint in them. "Been happily married for five months. She's incredible."</p><p>So not Tony, then.</p><p>Steve can't help letting out a sigh of relief. Not that it would change anything if Tony was married or not. Not that Steve had any right to ever look at him again after what he has done.</p><p>"Nope." Rhodes interrupts his stream of thoughts. "We're just longtime friends. We go way back, MIT." Steve opens wide questioning eyes at him. When Tony was studying at MIT, they were still together. Is that why the name rang a bell? How come they'd never met?</p><p>Rhodes snorts again. This time it sounds slightly bitter. He reclines a little more and stares at him from the corner of his eyes, tightening his arms against his chest, scrutinizing.</p><p>"If I had known that the renowned Captain Steve Rogers and the insecure skinny kid studying arts and literature—Tony's ex-Steve Rogers—was the same person, I would have never recommended you for that mission."</p><p>Steve has nothing to say for himself but he's too proud to lower his gaze and grits his teeth at the affront. </p><p>"I've had to scrape him off the floor when you broke his heart, you know?" Rhodes adds, eyes flaring with grudge.</p><p>This time Steve parts his lips helplessly. He frowns at him but really, he's just dumbfounded. His heart starts racing and he shuts his feelings away because thinking about it all again is just too fucking painful and he can't bear with it. Therefore, he remains silent and the colonel keeps observing him silently for a moment before changing position and leaning forward, getting, de facto, closer to Steve in an almost intimate way. Or a threatening one, he wasn't sure.</p><p>"So what's your strategy of defense?" He asks.</p><p>Steve looks up at him perplexedly. <em>"What?"</em></p><p>"Your trial in his two weeks, you didn't work out a strategy of defense, yet? Who's your lawyer?"</p><p>A lawyer? Steve probably has been appointed a public defender or the sort. Perhaps they tried to contact him and he refused to see them. He's not sure. Why would he need that anyway? It's just a military trial, conducted in camera. They like to deal with their own scandals on their own terms. Steve will probably get twenty years at least and he deserves it. He ruined a major operation and slaughtered two of his men cold-bloodedly. He raped the love of his life... He belongs to jail.</p><p>Steve has accepted his fate a long time ago. He's just waiting for it to happen. </p><p>"Here." Rhodes says and hands him over a huge file. Steve grabs it with an unconvinced pout, too stunned to refuse. "Read it. Learn it. And say exactly what it says." Steve opens wide uncomprehending eyes at him. "This is your strategy of defense, now." Rhodes adds as an explanation.</p><p>Steve opens it and skims through it. "That's not what happened—" He blurts out, feeling his bile at the back of his throat at the memory.</p><p>"I don't care what happened." The colonel snaps, interrupting him. "I don't know what happened. No-one knows what happened." Someone does, though. "Just say what's in that file on d-day. That's all I'm asking."</p><p>The colonel starts standing up, already bored with Steve's boring presence. Steve closes the file, millions of thoughts boiling and swirling in his mind. He loses himself in them for a short moment and Rhodes is about to leave, already. "Why are you doing this?" He asks. </p><p>The colonel gives him a gentle smile. "Well, I had request for you. You promised and kept you promise. I guess I owe you."</p><p>"I didn't though." Steve says with a sad and resigned voice. "I promised to bring him home safe and sound. He wasn't exactly sound, was he?"</p><p>Something forlorn crossed the colonel's eyes for a split-second. He pinched his lips and swallowed. "He's fine." He just says.</p><p>"I don't deserve this." Steve adds while handing the file back to him. The man doesn't do anything to take it from his hand however. He just gives him an apologetic smile.</p><p>"I guess you just have a lucky star."</p><p>Steve doesn't smile back. He hasn't smiled for a while, he realizes. When was the last time he smiled? </p><p>The colonel seems to understand and doesn't seem put off by his lack of enthusiasm. He just nods and wipes his hands on his pants nervously, pinching his lips. He wavers on hesitantly on his feet before he finally decides to leave Steve to his misery. "Oh and call that guy," he says, already in the doorway and throws him someone's business card. A certain Matthew Murdoch. "Fees already been paid."</p><p>
  <strong>***</strong>
</p><p>Steve called in the end. He called and learnt by heart what he was supposed to say. He said it, in every detail, and spoke with conviction. Not because he wanted to escape his responsibilities or lower his sentence. Only out of respect for Colonel Rhodes. Only because the man busted his ass in trying to avoid Steve's prison time. Steve should at least show some gratitude by trying and he could definitely add lying under the oath to the long list of his sins, it wouldn't make much of a difference.</p><p>Spoiler alert. He won't avoid prison, no matter how perfect his strategy of defense is. Today is the day. Today they call in the key witness. Today is the day Tony gets his revenge and gets to send Steve behind bars. Today the omega will destroy his life.</p><p>Steve is excited. </p><p>Twenty years, thirty years, the rest of his miserable life. It's all worth it. It's worth it if it means he can see the omega again. It's worth it if he gets to see him when he ends Steve's life, when his eyes full of hatred finally get some relief.</p><p>Steve can't wait. He's feeling on edge in the dock and squirms impatiently on his seat. His heart starts racing  when they announce him and stops when he makes his entrance.</p><p>The omega is stunning. Impeccably dressed for the occasion. He looks good, healthy, and ten fucking years younger. not at all like someone who supposedly just came out from a year long period of convalescence. Steve can't believe the omega's almost thirty-eight, he barely looks thirty. He has shaven the goatee he'd been wearing for a few years already. He is so beautiful, Steve thinks. So handsome he feels a twinge in his heart. He's falling in love all over again. To think that when he opens his mouth the omega will be the end of Steve.</p><p>Steve will welcome the destruction with open arms. He's waiting for it, will cherish it. Every word of it. All the sordid things he did, finally exposed. People deserve to know what a scumbag he is, he reckons. Prison seems such a small price to pay in the end.</p><p>He wishes Tony would look at him when he finally did, defy him, glare at him scornfully, showing all the hatred he feels for him from the bottom of his heart.</p><p>Tony doesn't look at him, though. Not even once.</p><p>He doesn't speak with hatred, neither with pride or confidence. On the contrary, he's hesitant and feeble. Thousand miles away from the Tony Steve has known. He speaks without fervor, without emotion, heartbreakingly factual.</p><p>He doesn't smile once.</p><p>It's unsettling, <em>upsetting,</em> and Steve almost wants to cry. It's like Tony is robbing him from a proper closure, like he doesn't care at all about Steve's fate and his indifference is much more unbearable than his hatred. It's like Steve isn't even worthy of Tony's hatred.</p><p>And then he hears the words.</p><p>And Tony's testimony, all of it, in every detail, corresponds to what Steve said the previous days. Everything fits perfectly, filling all the black holes revealed by the investigation.</p><p>The omega didn't destroyed Steve's life in the end. He <em>saved</em> it.</p><p>
  <strong>***</strong>
</p><p>Steve walks out free.</p><p>After eight days of trial and deliberations, he's been honorably discharged. </p><p>No comment.</p><p>He wobbles down the steps of the court, unsettled. He's just been offered a second chance at life and feels lost. He doesn't know what to do with it. It wasn't part of his plan, like at all. He feels unprepared. What is he gonna do now? He doesn't deserve it. He deserves nothing of it but he can't keep going like this, spending the rest of his life in and out of rehab, waiting for death to pick him up. He can't do this to himself, he can't do this to the people who gave him that second chance. He can't do this to him.</p><p>He needs a purpose.</p><p>What purpose? What's the point anyway?</p><p>It's spring and the sun is high in the sky that day. Steve looks up, walking in slow-motion, aimlessly, and lets the sun rays blind his eyes. Then he closes them and enjoys the warmth on his cheeks. It smells great, he realizes. This is the smell of freedom. For the first time in fifteen years, he feels free. It's overwhelming.</p><p>He smiles.</p><p>When was the last time he smiled?</p><p>He wonders. And the sunlight is beautiful that day, peaceful. Is it possible to feel peaceful in the middle of so much swarming? His head is spinning. Perhaps he's ecstatic, perhaps he just needs another fix.</p><p>Freedom is short-lived, however, because soon he's caught up by the shackles of his own guilt. He's gonna have to learn to live with it instead of trying to escape it any way he can. He's gonna have to face what he's done, one way or another. Maybe he can wait for another day, though. There are so many things he needs to do now, so many things he <em>should</em> do, like finding somewhere to sleep tonight for instance, among all the boring stuff that needs to be done.</p><p>He does none of it.</p><p>He keeps walking instead and wanders about in the streets of the capital, enjoying the beginning of the rest of his life. He wanders until the night comes and  never finds a place to sleep in the end. Or maybe he does, as well as a warm body to sleep against, although he's not really sure because of all the substances he's ingested before.</p><p>Perhaps he woke up in the middle of the night, or early that morning, with a raging headache and a huge pain in the ass. Maybe he's had an epiphany. Two hours later, him and his duffle were in a plane to New York City.</p><p>He needs to see him. He needs answers.</p><p>During the flight he feels weird, something unsettling fluttering in his stomach. He almost considers going straight to Manhattan but refrains. He doesn't want to make the same mistake. He needs to settle his feelings first, maybe get his mind in order. He goes to Brooklyn, to his old home. He kept the house when his mother passed away. He could afford it. He never rented it, thinking he would have a little pied-à-terre in New York, but never went back in the end. He used the house as a storage unit for the little stuff that belonged to him he couldn't carry from hotel to hotel in between his missions. Now, he guesses, he doesn't need to do that anymore. </p><p>He takes three days to clean the house and rearrange it so it becomes inhabitable again. With his mother's house is clean and empty of trash, he feels lighter as if he unloaded his mind as well. He walks up to his old room and throws himself onto his old bed, the same one he used to sleep in as a teenager, more than twenty years ago. He looks at the ceiling pensively, remembering the first moments of his relationship with Tony. How delicious they were. Their first confession and their first kiss, down there, in the entrance hall. How sweet it was. Their first time, right on this bed, the first time Steve took Tony. And the first time Tony took him, also on this bed. His first rut and how much self-control he had then, how sweet and amazing and strong Tony was in his arms. This house has known so many of their firsts...</p><p>Steve waits a whole week before finding the courage to go to the tower. The Stark Tower was its owner's pride. Stark Industries has grown exponentially from the moment Tony became CEO. Howard Stark had built a successful company, Tony has made it one of the top ten US-based multinationals, diversifying their products, their services, bringing the future in people's lives. Steve never set a foot in it. When Tony and him were dating, Tony was a nerd, spending all his free time in a lab, experimenting. He was so far away from the business world then.</p><p>Maybe their break-up changed both of them in the end, not only him.</p><p>He takes the subway to Manhattan very early that day, before the morning's rush hours. It's still a little dark outside when he walks out. It's fresh and the sky is a nice hue of dark blues with strokes of reds and touches of orange. He gets something to drink from a small, fancy coffee shop in an adjacent street and sits at the corner so he can have a full view of the sun rising behind the tower, illuminating the reverberating glass-walls. The design is beautiful, Steve admits, and wonders who was behind it, because honestly it couldn't be Tony. Not with his weird sense of aesthetics.</p><p>When the tower finally opens to the public, Steve is the first one to step inside. The doors whoosh open and everything in it suddenly comes alive, as if Steve had just entered a magic world. It's unsettling, all those moving, lifeless things all around him. He rushes to the reception desk and asks to see Tony Stark and gets immediately denied. He insists, telling the nice-looking lady that he's an old friend. She doesn't believe him, of course. Obviously Steve didn't think this through. He's growing a little desperate, trying to find a way through Tony's high-level security to get an appointment with one of his PAs when he hears his name called out hesitantly with a familiar voice.</p><p>"Steve?" He jerks his head on the side and stares bewilderedly at the woman who just seemingly recognized him. "Oh my god, that's really you." She says now that she's got a full view of his ravaged face. </p><p>He recognizes her too, almost instantly, although they haven't seen each other in over sixteen years. The smell of her, he thinks, her stance. He had no idea Tony and her had kept in touch all this time, even less that she apparently worked here, if the name tag is any clue.</p><p>Pepper Potts rushes to him and wraps her delicate arms around him. Steve is stupefied at first but he lets himself go in the sweet warmth of her embrace and curls his own arms around her as well, taking a deep whiff of her soothing omega scent. He almost sobs at the gentleness of it. IT's a very short hug that they shared but her smile is genuine, he wonders if she knows. She probably doesn't, considering. Has Tony shut his mouth about it all? Because surely all of his friends seem weirdly friendly with him.</p><p>"Are you here to see Tony?" She asks while loosening her grip around him. </p><p>Steve snorts. He's certainly not here to find a job. He nods while pinching his lips hesitantly. "I've been trying to get through that desk but apparently I'm not looking like someone who would be friends with Tony Stark." He jokes self-deprecatingly.</p><p>She laughs softly. "Yeah," she replies with a bittersweet expression, "since the whole<em>—kidnapping</em> thing, security protocols have been reinforced."</p><p>Steve nods understandingly.</p><p>"It's alright. Tony's still home. I'll get you there through the private elevator. It'll be easier."</p><p>Steve looks at her questioningly, silently asking "are you sure?"</p><p>She nods at him determinedly. "Yeah, it's fine. I was early for my appointment anyway. It'll just take five minutes." </p><p>"Miss Potts?" The nice lady from the reception desk calls behind them as she leads him toward the private elevator. "The car's already waiting for you." </p><p>"I'll be there in five." She replies assertively. She must a big deal here. Not really surprising that Stark Industries appoints omegas in high-ranked positions. Steve feels weirdly proud at that.</p><p>Pepper moves in determined strides and uses a badge to open the doors then she types a code and use her handprint to choose the right floor. She leaves the rest to Steve. "Just press this button when you're there. It'll take you to the Penthouse. Tony should still be there. I've gotta go I'm sorry. I wish we'd have more time to catch up, maybe next time." She adds with a fond wink.</p><p>Steve's heart heaves in his chest as the elevator starts moving up. When it stops, it starts racing.</p><p>The doors swoosh open when his trembling finger presses the button. A familiar smell and a familiar voice overwhelms him. He feels tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. What a wimp! He feels pathetic. </p><p>"Did you forget something, Pep?" The voice is clueless, sounding joyful.</p><p>Steve's heart races again. Do they live together? Have they rekindled things since high school? He hears quick steps coming to him and doesn't dare step out of the elevator, as if he was intruding on something too intimate to be shared with him. </p><p>Tony, like the vision of an angel coming straight down from heaven, finally appears in front of him. Their eyes meet and the omega gasps in shock and parts his lips, something indecipherable pooling in his eyes. A little close to fear, perhaps. Steve feels a lump in his throat and then his eyes flickers to what Tony is carrying in his arms. His mouth is probably gaping right now and his eyes are wide-open, fixed on the little thing that moves its hands and stares back at him innocently.</p><p>Steve feels a shiver run up and down his spine, his insides go all mushy and the twinge in his heart spreads and constricts his chest until he gasps for air.</p><p>The silence lingers but he can feel the uneasiness growing in the omega's scent. He looks up at him and stares into his eyes. He's a little dominant, slightly aggressive, when he does. He can't help it, he's overwhelmed by his instincts. He should feel shame right now but his familiar anger and protective rage takes over against his own will. The same anger flares in the omega's eyes but he remains silent.</p><p>Steve tries to control his emotions and lets his eyes rake over the tall shape of the man. He's stunning, wearing a grayish blue shirt tucked into slim-fit black slacks that follow the contour of his body so perfectly. He doesn't have a beard either today, his skin is all smooth and he looks so much younger, so beautiful it's heart-wrenching seeing him again, so close and so unreachable at the same time.</p><p>It all clicks in Steve's head. Of course, everything makes sense now. Why the omega looks so freshened up, why he hasn't appeared publicly in the past year, why he hasn't been taking up his responsibilities. Tony was pregnant. He was pregnant and now he's carrying a three month old child in his arms, his child. </p><p><em>Steve's</em> child. </p><p>It's too much to take in right now. Steve doesn't know what to do. He wants to cry and shout and run off to the hill or grab the baby and take it away with him but he just stares helplessly at the little family that should have been his and definitely isn't. Dark thoughts invading his brain and his heart.</p><p>Tony swallows and croaks. "What do you want?"</p><p>Steve is taken by surprise by the harshness of the tone. He stammers. "I just wanna talk to you."</p><p>Tony pouts, seemingly gritting his teeth in anger. He averts his eyes. "About what?" He finally asks while wetting his lips. </p><p>Steve feels another pang in his chest and doesn't answer right away. "Everything." He husks out.</p><p>Tony bites his tongue and glares at him. He thinks about it for a moment and finally replies affirmatively. "Okay." He agrees. "But not here." And Steve realizes he's still standing in the elevator and has never been invited in. Then the omega speaks in the air, addressing some imaginary guy called "Jarvis?" and gives him instructions. "Take him down to the fiftieth floor and make him wait in the conference room." Steve doesn't even startle when a disembodied voice with a British accent answers. "As you wish, Sir." Nothing surprises him anymore. Not after the shock he's just been experiencing. Besides, he is in the Stark Tower, of course there were gonna be weird futuristic gimmicks like this in it.</p><p>The omega's eyes are back on him so enough to distract him again and he glares at him. "I need to get dressed now, if you'll excuse me." He says very formally and Steve nods as if his permission had really been asked for this and then he hears Tony call a young girl named Wanda who's probably the nanny before the doors close on him again.</p><p>"I haven't had the pleasure to meet you before, Sir." The computerized voice asks, British accent resonating in the elevator. "How shall I call you? Steve, I presume...?"</p><p>"Rogers." Steve replies with a bored sigh. He doesn't even have the energy to feel amazed at the extraordinary existence of Jarvis. His feelings are in disarray. He is lost again and the pang in his chest doesn't seem to go away.</p><p>"Very well, Mr Rogers." Jarvis says gently, as if the thing could actually feel Steve's distress. "We've reached the fiftieth. Walk up the corridor and the conference room will be the fourth door on your right. There are refreshments there, please help yourself, Sir."</p><p>The fiftieth floor is fairly busy. He's crossed path with about ten people between the elevator and the fourth door on the right. There are see-through window panes everywhere. No privacy at all. The inside of the conference room is visible from the entire floor. Steve opens the door, notices the said refreshments in one corner. He takes a glass of water, just out of principles and sits down on one of the huge cushioned chairs surrounding the large oval table. Tony makes himself wait and he notices that he's being observed stealthily. Security guards probably, at least five of them, dispersed around the floor and keeping an eye on him, discreetly. They're really inconspicuous but Steve hasn't come down yesterday, been in the game for too long. He feels the lump in his throat growing, not that he's scared and feeling threatened in any way by those men. It's just the fact that Tony feels the need for that level of protection around him that upsets him.</p><p>After a good half an hour, Steve finally spots the omega getting out of the elevator, he's surrounded with three men and talking energetically with them, his stance is assertive and superior, worthy of him. The three men around him make themselves small and nods approvingly at everything he says before rushing to their tasks. Tony strides determinedly along the corridor and opens the door with a powerful grip. He enters the conference room alone. Now he's wearing a suit. His hair is styled perfectly. He's another person.</p><p>He is still determined when he walks over to where Steve is sitting. He sits opposite but about four feet away from him and stares into his eyes, glaring at him. He taps his fingers on the table impatiently, an annoyed pout on his lips. Steve is not impressed, he has always had this ability to turn his pain into rage. </p><p>They stare into each other's eyes for a moment, studying each other. He wishes his own heart wouldn't leap every time he noticed something cute about him.</p><p>"So," Tony starts, opening up the war-games, "what do you want?"</p><p>The hostility of his stance riles Steve up and he grits his teeth and tilts his head on the side defyingly. If Tony wants the war he can play that game too. "You look good," he starts, being sarcastic, "for someone who's been in a coma for five months."</p><p>"Fuck off!"</p><p>Steve frowns at him and turns serious immediately. "Is it mine?" He asks in a growl, although he already knows the answer. </p><p>There is a short moment of confusion in the omega's eyes before he realizes what Steve's talking about and he snorts mirthlessly, shaking his head. He bites and licks his lips and inhales a deep breath while staring into his eyes before he replies. </p><p>"Maybe." He says in an indifferent shrugs. "Maybe not." Then he snorts again. "You think you're the only one who took me for a ride?" The smile that spreads on his face is evil and ugly. "Breaking news, Rogers, you're not even the tenth." Sparks of anger fire him up at the thought, he feels a tremor shaking him up to the core, although he's not sure Tony isn't just being provocative and purposely leading him on. He knows so well which button to push.</p><p>Whatever. Steve knows too.</p><p>"Sure," he admits. "But certainly not that many with blond hair and blue eyes, especially in that part of the world..." He replies nonchalantly and smirks when Tony's eyes flare and he grits his teeth. </p><p>Suddenly, the omega's attitude change. He's on the defensive and his stance becomes aggressive. He leans forward threateningly. "So what are you gonna do now? Gonna sue me? What a joke!" His eyes burn with enraged hatred right now, that hatred Steve wished so much to see at his trial. It is directed at him in that moment and it isn't relieving at all. It's heart-breaking, the way the omega bares his teeth and turns into a belligerent protective wolf. It never even crossed Steve's mind to ever try to take the kid away from him. "Let me tell you something, Rogers," he spits. "I don't care that you're alpha. If you ever try to take him away from me I will <em>crush. you. down." </em>He growls like an alpha would and Steve flinches, inching back away from him. "I will <em>destroy</em> you," Tony continues, "and everything and everyone you hold dear." Steve isn't certain that he's bluffing. He might be but he's almost sure he would be capable of it, to protect his progeny. Either way, it sends shivers down his spine. More than the words, the way he means them with all his intent. "You walked out of this free. Enjoy it, Rogers. 'Cause that's all you ever gonna get from me." </p><p>Tony sits back against his chair and glares at him defiantly because he knows, just as much as Steve knows, that if Steve were to claim his paternity and sue him, even against Tony Stark and his battery of lawyers, and even if Tony revealed what he had done, he still might win. That's how fucked up this world is, even thirty years after the beginning of the OmegaLib movement.</p><p>Steve would like to say he wouldn't never do this but he can't. He's too angry for that.</p><p>"So, it's a him." He says resignedly. Tony bites his own tongue and rolls it inside his mouth, fingers tapping nervously on the table. "What's his name?"</p><p>Tony glares at him but doesn't give him an answer.</p><p>"You're not even going to tell me his name?" Steve says in a faltering voice. He wishes it didn't sound so hurt. Tony keeps looking at him silently. Intransigent. </p><p>"You lost every right on that child the moment you decided to force your knot on me." The omega clarifies through gritted teeth.</p><p>"Fair enough." Steve accepts resignedly. It hurts though. Unexpectedly. Even though the pain is well deserved. "You didn't have to make up this whole charade though."</p><p>Tony snorts again and this time it sounds desolate. "You think I did it for you?" He says with a bitter smile, although his voice sounds like a sob. "I'm omega, Steve. You've got no fucking idea what it means. If I don't do that, I'm done."</p><p>"What happened to all your nice speeches about freedom and self-reliance? Since when do you care about what people think?" </p><p>"If words got out that I got knocked-up while unbonded, I'll lose forty percents of my investors. <em>That's</em> my reality." Tony's eyes are flaring with anger but there is something forlorn pooling in them too. Something that makes Steve's rage plummet.</p><p>He doesn't have any arguments for that other than "I would have bonded you" that he whispers in a broken, desperate voice filled with remorse. Which is probably the stupidest thing he has ever said in his entire life but he couldn't help himself. </p><p>Tony chuckles but he has tears in his eyes. He doesn't even pretend anymore. "I don't want you anywhere near me or my son." He says coldly, his voice slightly shivering.</p><p>Steve feels an intense pain in his chest. His voice is sad when he asks. "Are you that scared of me, Tony?"</p><p>"Yes." The omega replies, almost instantly, as if it was a relief to admit it. And then Steve wonders if it's another lie, another way to hurt him or if he's genuinely terrified. It's perhaps a little bit of both, he reckons.</p><p>"What are you gonna do then? Hide him away in your tower for the rest of his life?"</p><p>"When he starts school I'll tell the media he's been adopted. Everyone will believe it, he doesn't look like me at all. And <em>you—</em>you're gonna shut your mouth about him."</p><p>"Who knows about him?" Steve asks, feeling overly invested in the life of that little being he's just met a few seconds.</p><p>"Only people I trust." The omega replies bluntly. "And <em>you."</em></p><p>Steve chuckles, despite himself, at the outward show of antipathy. "And what are you gonna tell him?"</p><p>"The truth." Tony retorts, his voice is hoarse and broken.</p><p>Steve raises a skeptical eyebrow. "The whole truth?"</p><p>"He already knows he's my baby boy and it's just the two of us from now on."</p><p>"What if he asks about me?" </p><p>The omega leans forward again and stares right into his eyes, sending daggers. "I'll tell him the truth." He croaks. His lips shiver slightly. "That his sire is a <em>psycho</em> and a creep, a scum-sucking junkie, a rapist and a murderer who isn't worth knowing. And that as long as I live I'll do everything in my power to protect him from you."</p><p>Each word is like a blade sinking into Steve's heart and the worst thing is that it's only the truth, blunt and raw. He feels his chest constrict and thousand punches in his guts and huffs out a jerky breath. He feels like crying but he's empty of tears, it seems, because he manages to keep an impassive expression. The mask on Tony's face fell however and his eyes are heinous, filled with tears of rage, but his lips are trembling and his jaw is tense with fear.</p><p>Steve lets the silence linger and listens to the omega's accelerating breathing. His fingers are still tapping on the table.</p><p>He fixes his gaze on him, frowning angrily. Perhaps he wants to make this moment last, sensing that this is probably the last time he can see Tony. "Is that really what you think?"</p><p>The omega's stare is intense on him, at a loss. "You <em>murdered</em> your lover, Steve. Your <em>lover!</em> In cold blood..." He doesn't say anything else because he said it all. Steve sees a glimpse of Brock's dying gaze just before he shut it out of his mind, just before the tears reach the corner of his eyes, just before he loses face. He would do it again, without hesitation, if it meant Tony lived.</p><p>"Why didn't you send me to jail then?" He asks blankly, feeling frustrated and disillusioned. "This is where I belong."</p><p>There is a very short moment during which Tony's gaze becomes innocent and melancholic. He never lets go of Steve's eyes, however. "You saved my life, didn't you?" He whispers resignedly and averts his eyes. "I don't wanna owe you anything."</p><p>Steve stands up abruptly. He doesn't know why. Perhaps he needs to assert his dominance over the omega. Perhaps he knows he's unwelcome here but can't let go just yet. Perhaps he wants to make a point. Perhaps he should leave because he's got all the answers he needed but none of them are satisfying enough.</p><p>"Your life would have never been in danger in the first place, if it wasn't for me." Steve says.</p><p>Tony raises his eyes to him and the despair in them is heart-wrenching. There is a silent tear dripping down his cheek. He brings a shaky, hesitant hand to his face and bites his fingers nervously as a shiver seems to run through him. "Get the fuck out of here." He whispers in a shuddering sigh.</p><p>This is it. Steve's last victory. He won the war-game initiated by the omega and he should feel smug about it. Why does he feel like he lost then? Like he lost everything?</p><p>"I still loved you." Tony continues, averting his eyes, and Steve feels like shit, because the omega is above Steve's stupid games. He's such a better person Steve has ever been. "I am <em>still</em> in love with the person you used to be." Steve wavers on his feet, feeling his heart drop. "But I <em>hate</em> you. With all my being. I don't even know if there's any humanity left in you. Get out of here, Rogers, do whatever you want with your life, I don't care, but stay away from us."</p><p>He swallows a sob down and tries to answer with the growing lump in his throat. "Okay." He concedes and then he takes something out of his pocket and squeezes it in his hand. </p><p>"They've got someone inside." He says blankly. "Someone in a high enough position for them not to need you alive." </p><p>The omega raises his eyes at him questioningly, the hate temporarily away from his crying face. "What?" He asks but understands what Steve meant the moment the shivering word leaves his mouth.</p><p>Steve puts the flash drive in his hand on the table and pushes it toward the omega who stares at him confusedly. "I found it there and this everything I was able to save. I haven't given it to anyone. Do whatever you want with it." There is moment suspended in the air before Steve retrieves his hand and swallows painfully.</p><p>The omega's eyes flicker with rage and he grits his teeth but something forlorn flashes through his gaze. "Get out!" He snarls while wiping his face with the sleeve of his ten grand jacket.</p><p>Steve obliges and leaves the conference room with a heavy heart and the sensation that just wasted his life. He looks back one last time through the see-through walls of the conference room and sees the omega hunched up over the table, face in his hands and shoulders shaking, the flash drive lying, untouched, on the table. </p><p>He probably left the remains of his broken heart in this room but it doesn't matter anymore.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was supposed to end after this chapter but decided some times ago I was gonna add a small epilogue. What do you think?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is for you Torres, and I swear I wasn't influenced by your ideas, thought about this before we talked about it. We are just connected like that... ;-)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Picture this.</p><p>In a small square in a modest part of Brooklyn, although rents have increased exponentially in the last twenty years, an old man is sitting on a bench that used to be dark green but is now a rusty brownish. The square is quaint and enclosed, giving it a peaceful and intimate atmosphere. So quiet you can hear the birds in the middle of the day, when everyone is at work. It's empty, very confidential. There is a small play area with an old slide, one or two swings and a dirty sandpit. It is surrounded with huge trees, all of them different, and a one-hundred-year-old oak at the center, dominating the place. There are six benches on this square, which is not square by the way. One of them is in the shadows of a huge mahogany tree, a little apart from the play area and hidden behind an unkept bush and in front of a wild flowerbed that is beautiful in its expression of freedom. This is where the old man is sitting, quiet and discreet, invisible.</p><p>It's the beginning of spring time. Although it's still cool outside, the trees are freshly green and the flowers are blooming. It smells good in this part of the city, far from the great boulevards and swarming life of the city. The old man comes here every Wednesday in the early afternoon, to think or to draw, sometimes to read. He always sits here, hidden from the world, invisible in plain sight.</p><p>That day he's hunched up over his sketchbook, making small doodles of two chickadees courting each other on a small branch in the large tree in front of him. He's wearing a large light blue and grey flannel over an oversized holey sweatshirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a pair of washed-out jeans with too long legs falling over leather flip-flops and socks. He looks neglected. His long hair is dry, grayish strands over formerly blond ones, and tied into a ponytail. Of his ravaged face, hidden behind a thick and unkept beard, grayish as well, one can only see his deep blue eyes glimmering with melancholy. The old man is of small stature, something quite unusual for an alpha, he looks a pitiful thing hunched up on his bench but he doesn't seem to care. He looks damaged but there is gentleness in his eyes and he gives off tranquility. His hands are rough and his fingers brownish, colored by years of smoking and remainders of charcoals and oil paint. The old man smells like cigarette and basic soap. </p><p>He isn't that old actually, the old man, only in his mid-forties but he's been injured by age and life and years of self-abuse. And although he knows his appearance is quite pitiful, he does nothing to change that, he likes it that way. It pushes people away so he can enjoy his peace and quiet.</p><p>On the other side of that square, in the sandpit, there is a boy. Blond with blue eyes. His hair is always scruffy. He's playing with little sticks of woods, making experiments. He's wearing jeans, a dark blue sweater on an indigo shirt and a large maroon velvet coat. He looks very ordinary, not very tall for his age, and quiet. A few feet from him, there is a tall man. He has dark hair that is starting to show the signs of his age. He looks younger than he is. Always perfectly groomed, a freshly trimmed goatee that is very sexy on him. He looks like the perfect alpha in the prime of his life, except he smells omega. The dark-haired man is not wearing scent-confusers, which is very unusually from someone of his stature and dressed the way he is dressed. A dark felt coat over a nice suit that looks ordinary from afar but very sophisticated when you get a closer look. Everything is in the details.</p><p>The old man always had an eye for details. </p><p>The dark-haired man is in his early forties but looks in his late thirties. Usually he plays with the boy, he likes telling him about sciences. He explains how the wind works and how the sand is made or what the trees becomes when they die. The boy listens attentively with marveled eyes. Today however, the man is on the phone he looks agitated because his hand is opening and closing nervously and there is an annoyed frown on his face that darkens his usually soft expression. He isn't keeping an eye on his son, like he usually does which is not really a problem. Since they always move around surrounded with at least three bodyguards. You will never see them. They look like normal civilians they mingle in the crowd but they always watch over the boy and his father. One of them is sitting on the bench next to the boy, reading newspaper. Another one is walking a dog and playing on his phone. the last one is further away, in a jogging outfit, stretching his legs on the sidewalk. All of them have earpieces and microphones hidden in their outfits. They have weapons too but only a professional eye like the old man's can see that.</p><p>The boy is smiling most of the time, or focused on risky experiments, and yet, there is sometimes a glimpse of loneliness that crosses his innocent eyes. Sometimes he looks at the dark-haired man with a worried expression on his face and it's both very touching and heart-wrenching at the same time.</p><p>The old man has tried to catch that expression several times. Both his and his father's sometimes melancholic gaze that he hides behind a bright Colgate smile.</p><p>By the way, that old man, that's Steve. And the boy playing in the sandpit? That's his son. His name is Harley. He's seven years old. He's a very curious boy, good at school, and quite solitary. He likes sciences, like his father, and is passionate about insects and mechanics. He likes building castles with stones and sticks of wood. He loves playing in this old play area where there aren't many kids coming because of its lack of modernity and its old and rusty games. That's why the young boy likes coming here. It makes him feel ordinary. A little breeze of fresh air in his complicated life. </p><p>The reason they are here however, him and his father, is not a joyful one. The boy is in poor health, something he got from his sire probably or perhaps the sad circumstances of his conception and his birth. He has heart problems and, surprisingly, the doctor that treats him—an eccentric man named Stephen Strange—has his clinic in the area. Harley has a check-up with him every month, always on a Wednesday. And his father never misses it, despite his busy life at work.</p><p>The reason Steve is here is because this square is not far from his home. He's been coming here for a few years already. Always on the same spot. Except that one day, he saw that boy running after a butterfly, trying to catch it. The scene almost made him smile and just a moment later, he saw his father running after him. He looked so happy. They both did. He caught up with the boy and grabbed him around the waist and swirled him around, spinning on himself. They both laughed. Steve raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of the man's face and a whiff of his smell that the fresh breeze that day had transcended in the most serene scent. Steve recognized it instantly and he knew that the boy was his son. The last time Steve had seen his son before that day, he was just a three month old baby. He immediately lowered his head and made himself small so he wouldn't disturb them. He was so glad he had decided to wear scent-confusers again.</p><p>That was eight months ago. </p><p>Since then, Steve has learnt a lot about Harley. He just picked up information here and there, heard snatches of conversations, made a little research, mainly to get to know more about his health, out of concern, but he's never tried to stalk either of them, don't get over your head. He's not like that. He never broke the promise he silently made to his father seven years ago.</p><p>He has built his life without them, far from them, and tried to honor that second chance at life Harley's father granted him the best he could. He renovated his mum's house and got back to school. He finished his thesis and was offered a job as assistant professor in Brooklyn College. He spends most of his time at the university with his students or in diverse charity organizations where he helps around and organizes meetings. The same meetings he's been going to as part of his therapy and rehab programs. He's got PTSD by the way. That's what therapy helped him figure out. He's had it since that last mission that made him quit the army to work for SHIELD. The mission that made him Captain but was also the starting point of his decline, apparently. It took him years to realize this. Now, he can deal with the whole shit without the illicit help. It doesn't undo what he's done but it's a small victory. On his path to finding redemption, Steve gives art classes to underprivileged kids and goes to hospitals to give homework tutoring. He volunteers at the vet center, like Sam does. They're still in touch although he's not in Washington anymore. He's reconnected with his other friends too and spends some weekends at Buck who also lives in Brooklyn or they all have barbecues at Clint's who lives in New Jersey. Steve loves going there. He loves playing uncle Steve with their kids. It makes him forget that he doesn't know his own son for a moment.</p><p>When he is sad he goes to the cemetery, cleans his mum's grave and talks to her and then he goes to Brock's and leaves flowers on it. The tomb is empty. There was nothing left of him after the explosion. Steve made sure he got a proper burial anyway because if he hadn't, no-one would have. Brock had no-one, not even his parents, and he may not have been a good person but he deserved someone to care for him so Steve has decided to take on that role. The alpha had just been trying to survive, he had hopes, he hadn't stopped fighting. Steve has taken all that away from him. He has ripped him off the chance to ever find happiness in this life, that was the least he could do. Steve sometimes wonders if things would have worked out between them. Sometimes he lets himself dream about a life with Brock in it. He's just indulging himself, trying to picture his life with another alpha, and somehow that alpha always has Brock's face. He really is a helpless case... </p><p>Steve considered starting a new life with someone else, more often than once, but the prospect of sharing his life with another being properly terrifies him. He's too damaged. Besides, no alpha looks at him anymore. The only people who have shown any kind of interest to him are his students, especially the omegas. Not that he makes any kind of efforts to appear desirable. There is just some kind of fascination for him, because he is alpha, and also he looks neglected and decrepit, there is always a crowd of admirers surrounding him and harassing him with questions at the end of his classes. This is why he started using confusers again.</p><p>Oh and by the way, speaking of omegas... Harley's father, that dark and mysterious handsome omega? That's Tony Stark. He's outstanding. In those seven years he became even more outstanding than he already was. He started by announcing the end of weapons manufacturing in his company and changed the guideline, making it the greenest one and increasingly developing research in that domain. That's just one example of the outstanding public things he did but he also accomplished amazing deeds that the public will never know about. He's cleaned his company from the inside and discovered all by himself who was the one behind his kidnapping. (And if the origin of this was a certain flash drive that Steve gave him, it's not worth mentioning...) Heads fell and corruption ended. And when Tony Stark—because he doesn't do things half-way—started digging deeper, he discovered that the corruption went way further than his company. There was an organization that infected governmental instances and major companies in order to overthrow the world's order. <em>Hydra.</em> </p><p>Tony Stark was the first one to discover and expose them, he brought tangible proofs of its existence in several strategic domains and brought up the biggest scandal of the twenty-first century. Everything was covered up but there were investigations and trials, people were asked to testify. Steve did. As a key witness, he was offered absolution to help destroying the organization from the inside. He did it gladly. He told them everything he knew, all the intel he had. All the sketchy things he did in all those years... He participated actively in bringing the whole thing down and can't feel any prouder for it.</p><p>In those few agitated months in Steve's new life, he had the opportunity to see Tony Stark several times. They just crossed path and avoided each other's presence. Steve never found the strength to ask him about his son, then. A metaphor of both their lives, marked by wrong moments, misunderstandings and broken happiness. Their shoulders barely touched and their eyes never met. That was five years ago. Since then, both of them are targets. As far as he's concerned, it was worth it, but for his son he had wished another life.</p><p>"What are you drawing?" An innocent voice asks expectingly.</p><p>The boy is standing in front of the old man, looking at him with wide-open curious eyes. Steve parts his lips in shock. His heart starts racing. He's never been so close to his son before. He feels overwhelmed by his own emotions and tears are prickling at the corner of his eyes. He could just stretch his hand and cup his face with his rough damaged one. He would only have to stretch his hand to touch him. </p><p>Steve only shows him his sketchbook with a trembling hand and manages to croak out a hoarse "those two birds over there" with the lump in his throat. He points at the tree behind the boy who turns his head around following Steve's finger. </p><p>"Oh." The boys coos and jerks his head back to Steve, his big blue eyes filled with wonders. He smiles at Steve, impressed by his doodles. His father is wrong to think the boy doesn't look like him at all, because his big expressive eyes, if it wasn't for the color, are just all Tony.</p><p>Steve feels a pang in his chest and the urge to wrap his arms around him. He wishes he could bury his head into his neck and take a huge whiff of his undetermined scent and <em>know</em> what Tony's and his mingling scents would smell like. But he can't. </p><p>This is the most heart-breaking moment he's been through in years.</p><p>The boy climbs on the bench next to him and presses his small body against his reassuring side. His movements are manic and he never stops talking, just like his dad. He talks to him about birds and seems to know a lot on the subject. Then he asks if he can look at Steve's other sketches, if he only draws birds or other animals too. </p><p>Steve nods quietly. "I draw people sometimes, too. I like coming here."</p><p>"Really? Why have I never seen you before?"</p><p>Steve shrugs. "Because I'm an imp." He whispers, leaning into him and trying to scent him. "Only boys with special powers can see me. You must be one very special boy."</p><p>The boy's laugh sounds mischievous and innocent, just like his father's. "I don't believe you." He decides and shakes his head as he turns the pages of Steve's sketchbook and admires his work with a marveled expression on his face.</p><p>Steve feels the corners of his mouth quirk up on their own and a surge of warmth in his chest. "You should. Because I'm an evil one. Can't you see?"</p><p>The boy turns to him and smiles gently as if he could see through his ugly appearance, through the damages, through the years and reach his soul, to see only what is beautiful inside. Then, he stares back at the sketchbook and lets out a surprised cry of joy. </p><p>"That's my dad!" He exclaims excitedly, staring at an old sketch of Tony playing with Harley. A stolen moment that Steve had caught on paper a few months ago. "And me." </p><p>The boy is absolutely stunned and amazed. He lost his words. Steve smiles fondly at him and refrains the urge to rake a hand in his scruffy blond hair. "We must have met before then." He explains while trying to settle his racing heart. The boys looks at him with expectant eyes. "You can take it if you want." Steve answers the unsaid question nonchalantly.</p><p>The boy's eyes sparkle with gratitude. He opens his mouth and sucks in a surprised breath. "Really?" He exclaims, asking for confirmation. Steve nods in response but doesn't the time to open his mouth and speak.</p><p>"Harley?" They hear Tony call in the distance. He sounds worried. "Harley?"</p><p>"Here." Steve mutters softly and tears off the page to give it to him. "Go to your dad before he gets worried." The boys snatches it from his hand as if scared Steve would change his mind and climbs off the bench.</p><p><em>"HARLEY?"</em> Tony shouts, voice broken at the edges. He's very close to them now and the boy looks sheepish when his father suddenly appears from behind the bush and stops abruptly, eyes sparkling with anger and features relaxing with relief at the same time. "I <em>told you</em> to stay in sight and never talk to strangers."</p><p>The boy sensed the panic in his father's stance so he runs to him.</p><p>"He's not a stranger. He's an imp and he's my friend."</p><p>"Don't be ridiculous." The father says while grabbing his son by the shoulders and instinctively puts his clothes back in place dotingly, running a soft hand on his face. </p><p>"It's not like I risk anything anyway." The boy grumbles elusively, Steve knows he refers to his three bodyguards. His heart races. The boy shrugs and pouts, clutching the piece of paper in his hand as if his life depended on it. His father grabs his neck protectively and gives him a sad understanding smile and then raises concerned eyes to Steve.</p><p>Their eyes finally meet. Tony freezes. He shivers inconspicuously and parts his lips as terror flashes through his eyes. He closes his mouth and swallows and brutally picks his son up from the ground, carrying him away from Steve. "Don't ever do this again, sweetheart. Promise me." He begs in a broken voice.</p><p>The boy makes a surprised humph and struggles. "Dad, you're squeezing too hard. You're hurting me." Tony hurries his pace and tightens his embrace around his son. They're already far but Steve had a very good hearing. "Dad? Why are you crying?"</p><p>"I'm not crying, Kiddo. I just have something in my eye."</p><p>The boy stops struggling and curls his little arms around his father's neck, burying his face in the crook of his neck and indulging his father with a comforting embrace.</p><p>Steve feels an intense twinge in his heart when they disappear behind the trees.</p><p>***</p><p>Harley has never come to play in the small square once since then.</p><p>And Steve, well... Steve keeps coming every Wednesday, hoping in vain to see his son again. Even though he's received, barely two weeks after their encounter, a nice letter from Tony Stark's lawyers with a restraining order inside.</p><p>It hurts. A lot. Even if it won't change Steve's routine much. He's never tried to get close to the Stark Tower or to his son's school or to anything related to him whatsoever. It just feels weird, to see written, black on white, how he's been officially forbidden access to all those places. It hurts.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>The End</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em><strong>Alternative Ending</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>A few months later, on that same bench.</p><p>It's late October and it's such a beautiful day Steve took out his easel and a canvas. He wants to paint those warm shades of oranges and browns. The low sun shines on the leaves and they sparkle with the soft glow of fall. The light breeze make them dance and the wild rays scintillate through the thick canopy.</p><p>He's wearing roughly the same outfit he wore that day, different colors. He's also wearing glasses, the one he has to put on to be able to read now. They're on the bridge of his nose and sometimes Steve leans his head back when his eyes don't meet the glass. He has his tongue stuck out on the corner of his mouth. He doesn't do it on purpose. He doesn't even realize he does it. It's just something he tends to do when he's focused. </p><p>Someone suddenly sits next to him. He startles.</p><p>No-one ever sits down next to him. With his unkept appearance he looks like a hobo. People even grimace when they walk past him, as if they smelt the filth on him. He wonders if they do it consciously or if their sight influence their sense of smell. He doesn't pay attention to it though. He couldn't care less.</p><p>This time however, he feels suddenly self-conscious. He's been so used to being on his own on this bench, nothing troubling his peace and quiet. Like a second home.</p><p>Today there is a man who apparently doesn't care. Steve hasn't seen him. He was too focused on that particularly tricky branch, unable to find the right color. He barely noticed someone dressed in dark colors. Quite tall. Perhaps a jogger or someone working out. The scent is undetermined. </p><p>He hears the man's breathing accelerate. He coughs and clears his throat and then changes position, resting his elbows on his thigh and leaning forward, head in his hands. The movement is abrupt and seems desperate. That's when Steve turns his head on the side to take a look at him, curious.</p><p>His own heart starts racing. He recognizes the man instantly. Even if he can't really see his face, hidden underneath a black hoodie. Even he's wearing scent-confusers. Even if his usually styled hair is falling over his forehead, wet with sweat. Even if he's wearing working-out clothes. All black.</p><p>This is Tony Stark who's sitting next to him. </p><p>Steve is confused. He looks around and can't spot any bodyguard. They're alone. Completely alone. Tony came on his own and he's sitting next to Steve, looking desperate and silent. Steve doesn't know what to do, so he just waits. He keeps silent too and they remain like this, both sitting on the bench next to each, for a good ten minutes. A few inches are separating them. Steve is still holding his brush in the air, unable to make another movement. Tony is hunched up on the bench, wiping his face in his clammy hands. His right leg is shaking nervously. He seems to be trying to find some courage to speak but can't. Steve's heart is racing so fast he feels lightheaded.</p><p>Finally the omega braces himself and opens his mouth, to Steve's utter surprise. "Do you want to meet him?" He says with a low husky voice.</p><p>Steve freezes and drops his brush. He remains silent and still for a few moments, unable to process the question. It's a simple question though, very unexpected, that leaves him at a loss. He doesn't answer. Instead he turns dumfounded eyes to the omega who seems to have regained composure and stares back at him with a soft expression.</p><p>"I—" Steve stammers, "I never tried to see him, you know." He finally says, trying to reassure the omega. </p><p>"I know."</p><p>Steve feels like something unclenches in his chest.</p><p>"I've asked the judge to end the restraining order." Tony continues.</p><p>Steve's heart makes a leap and he feels an unusual warmth spread in his chest, something soft and comforting. The omega has this effect on him. Always had. Always will.</p><p>Steve turns nostalgic eyes to him and studies him softly. He doesn't know what to say and the words leaves his mouth on their own. "The beard looks really good on you, you know?"</p><p>The omega's eyes open wide before he bursts out laughing and throws his head back, all his muscles suddenly relaxing. "The beard looks really good on you too." He says with a shy smile and averts his eyes.</p><p>Steve laughs too and lets his hand wander on the omega's knees. "I would love to." He says while squeezing his thigh. He didn't have any further intention, he didn't even do it consciously. He just needed the contact, he reckons. </p><p>The omega stops laughing and stares at him confusedly. He doesn't flinch, doesn't grimace, doesn't push his hand away. He just remains stoical and hands him a card. "Call my lawyer." He says, voice blank and impassive. "We'll arrange a meeting. One hour. Supervised. If everything goes well, I'll think about making it a regular thing."</p><p>And before Steve can realize what just happened. The omega is gone. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So there it is... I added a hopeful note. Only because I'm in a better mood lately. I'd love to know what you thought about it! :)</p><p>Anyway, best wishes to all!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you wanna know how Steve and Tony met, you can still read this <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23186479/chapters/55502083">fic</a> which inspired this one.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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